Budget not all bad news for schools and colleges

Deirdre Newman

The tentacles of the compromise budget eked out by the state

Legislature this week will creep into the coffers of education

funding, but school officials around the area say they have mostly

been expecting the cuts.

And the Coast Community College District got a nugget of good

news: it will only have to deal with half the cut it expected.

The district is now only staring at a deficit of $4 million, as

opposed to the $8 million expected in May and the $15 million

anticipated in January, said Erin Cohn, district spokeswoman.

“Obviously, it’s a better scenario than we were looking at earlier

this year, but until we see what the governor does, it’s not a cause

for celebration,” Cohn said. “It’s a cause for letting out a little

sigh of relief knowing that we’re going to survive it this year.”

The Assembly passed the $100-billion spending plan Tuesday after a

marathon session and months of deadlock. It cuts about $2.3 billion

from schools and awaits Gov. Gray Davis’ signature.

Superintendent Robert Barbot of the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District said he didn’t know the exact details of the proposed

budget, but that it would probably mesh with what the district has

been expecting for the last six months.

The district expects to lose about $250 per student compared to

last year, Barbot said.

But the district has been aggressive in exploring alternative

funding sources to help compensate and expects to garner about $8

million to $9 million in supplemental grants, Barbot added.

“For example, we collaborated with Santa Ana and UCI for a

$14-million program,” Barbot said. “We’re losing staff development

from the state. This will greatly help us get math and science that

we desperately need for the students.”

The proposed budget whittles away $410 million in state funding

for the University of California system. The effects of this massive

cut will affect all noninstructional programs, including

administration, research and teacher professional development.

The drastic cut also prompted Richard Atkinson, president of the

UC Board of Regents, to announce that he will raise tuition an

additional 5% on top of the 25% increase adopted earlier this month.

For resident undergraduates, the increase will be between $1,150 to

$4,984 per year. Financial aid will still be available.

Sandra Campbell, associate vice chancellor for the budget at UC

Irvine, said the cuts are more bearable because of the planning UCI

has already done.

“We actually have been preparing for this for quite some time,”

Campbell said. “It’s not pleasant, but people are dealing with

reductions that are going to be necessary over the next year or two.”

Campbell said the fee increases still keep UC schools competitive.

“We compare ourselves to a certain group of public [schools], and

even with these increases they’re planning to implement, we’ll still

be below the comparisons,” Campbell said. “And then we hear the

comparison [schools] are raising [fees] even more. We’re all going

through the same thing at the same time.”

The budget also provides no new state funding for salary increases

for UC faculty and staff for the 2003-4 school year. UC faculty

salaries are expected to fall at least 9% behind those of comparable

institutions, according to the UC Office of the President.

To respond to cuts throughout the community college system, the

budget also recommends raising tuition from $11 to $18 per unit.

Coast Community College District officials fear mid-year budget cuts

next January could take an even bigger chunk out of their budget,

Cohn said.

“We don’t feel like we’re out of the woods,” Cohn said. “We’re

definitely glad that the budget is moving forward so we can begin

planning for the year now and open school in the fall, knowing how

many classes we can offer.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.