Dear Colleagues,
Despite all of our Herculean efforts to defeat the Governor’s wrongheaded proposals on the Online College and Performance Based Funding, both have survived to make it into the final budget.
Although both proposals have been modified slightly through the budget negotiation process, their essential elements remain. Some of the first level analysis is given by the Chancellor below, more details will be forthcoming.
Thanks to all of you who lobbied or made phone calls to try to kill these two proposals! I want to give special thanks to our CFT lobbyist Bryan Ha who was the true “Energizer Bunny” in the Capitol, working day and night over the past six months to try to defeat these measures. Although we came up short this time, we will continue our momentum when the new Governor takes office in January and do our best to unravel both proposals through the legislative process next year.
I truly appreciate everyone’s support during the past six months throughout what has been a very difficult fight.
In Unity,
Jim
Begin forwarded message:
From: “Metune, Laura” <lmetune@CCCCO.EDU>
Subject: Budget Agreement Released
Date: June 8, 2018 at 2:06:02 PM PDT
Colleagues,
Sharing details here on today’s state budget agreement.
Colleagues,
The budget conference committee has released the agenda for its meeting this afternoon: http://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/June%208%20Final%20Close%20Out%20Agenda.pdf. This agenda reflects the budget agreement between Governor Brown, Senate President pro Tempore Atkins, and Speaker Rendon announced earlier this morning (in the press release below).
As you’ll see, the budget agreement includes two major components related to the California Community Colleges—both of which you know well, because they have been the subject of much deliberation over the last six months (and before). I’ve included some key details below. Vice Chancellor Osmeña will share a more detailed analysis of the agreement tonight. On the two proposals:
- Funding Formula—The budget agreement includes the Governor’s proposed funding formula (as amended at the May Revision) with some modifications. Subsequent to the May Revision, the Department of Finance committed to two changes to the proposal. First, the proposal was amended to include a new “stability” provision, which specifies (as a permanent part of the formula) that, each year, a district would receive the greater of their past year or current year funding. Second, the proposal no longer includes any changes to existing provisions related to counts of summer enrollment. (Therefore, current practices continue.)
The additional modifications made as part of the budget agreement are as follows:
o A three-year phase-in of the formula, with the model designed to provide 70 percent for the base allocation, 20 percent for the equity allocation, and 10 percent for the student success allocation in 2018-19 (a 70-20-10 split), with a 65-20-15 split in 2019-20 and a 60-20-20 split in 2020-21.
o As part of the equity and student success allocations, use of counts for all College Promise Grant recipients, rather than only College Promise Grant recipients age 25 and over (as was proposed in the May Revision).
o Extension of the discretionary funds to cover a three-year period, which guarantees that all districts would receive funding increases at least equal to the cost-of-living adjustment for those three transition years.
Further, as I discussed in the recommendations I made to the Department of Finance, the agreement creates an oversight body to monitor implementation of the new formula and make recommendations to my office and to the Governor and the Legislature for its improvement.
- Online Education—The budget agreement also includes funding for the online community college as proposed by the Governor—$120 million in 2018-19 (with $100 million one-time and $20 million ongoing). Building on the provisions included in the Governor’s May Revision, the agreement includes additional language to specify alignment between the online college and other community colleges. Further, the agreement also includes $35 million one-time to support the Online Education Initiative—which will help us expand and improve online education at all of our colleges.
Also, very notably, the budget agreement includes $50 million for additional full-time faculty at our colleges and $50 million one-time for support of part-time office hours. The Board of Governors included these items in their budget request to the Governor and the Legislature, and I reiterated the system’s commitment for faculty support in my recommendations to the Department of Finance on the funding formula.
The budget conference committee will meet this afternoon to act on the proposed agreement. Following the committee’s actions, the budget will be presented to both houses of the Legislature for approval, with a deadline of June 15 for their actions. If it is approved, it will be presented to the Governor for his signature.
Again, as I expressed last week, I know how significant—and, at times, challenging—this budget process has been for our system. I hope that this milestone will allow us to move into a new phase in our work—working to make sure our implementation of these substantial changes meets the needs of our students consistent with the Vision for Success. I hope you will share your thoughts about how to make that happen.
Best,
Eloy
Eloy Ortiz Oakley
Chancellor, California Community Colleges
Regent, University of California
1102 Q Street, Suite 4400
Sacramento, CA 95811-6549
Phone: 916.322.4005
Email: eoakley@cccco.edu
Twitter: @eloyoakley