In any troubled economy, cuts in spending and to programs, including the higher educational system, are inevitable. Taking into consideration the state budget cuts made to the California Community College system in the past year, it is impossible to say that anyone saw such devastating effects coming.What was once thought of as a worst-case scenario, has now spawned into increased tuition, programs and sections being drastically cut, not to mention painful cuts to faculty salary.These issues were touched upon by Skyline College’s Academic Senate in a recent letter of concerns to school president, Frances White. The Skyline View applauds the Senate for taking a stand on such daunting matters, and letting higher-ups know the cuts need to stop.Backed up with strong figures, the letter holds back no reservations. For example, the fact that Skyline faculty pay has been cut over 13 percent, classified pay has been cut by over 5 percent while district administrative pay has risen by over 4 percent. This is definitely something to be upset about, especially at a time when money is so scarce. While Skyline isn’t the only community college in the state whose teachers have taken pay cuts, it is the threat of using layoffs as an option to fix the already ailing budget if Proposition 55 is not passed on March 2.Proposition 55, if passed, will allocate $12.3 billion from the state’s general fund to K-12 grades and higher educational institutions for renovation purposes. The share for community colleges alone would be $960 million, when divided amongst the 108 in the state, is approximately $8.5 million per college. This is definitely a nice sum of money that any college could use.Although Skyline could use the $8.5 million, the Senate correctly focuses on the issue of class and staff cuts, stating that such cuts have possibly had a far worse impact on students than previously imagined. According to the letter, the Senate is asking that a report of “curriculum areas that are most impacted and some evidence of the magnitude of the shortfall of classes,” be received by March 1. They are also asking that a report of whether the instructional cuts from the fall 2003 semester had an impact on student success.Without a doubt, these reports will find that student and school success has been affected, but that which remains to be seen is how negative the impact has been. Surely district officials cannot think that cutting full-time staff and replacing them with part-time staff, or not at all, is good for either group. In some cases, it could be argued that the quality of instruction has greatly suffered because of this. Also, there has been talk that the district receives a certain amount of money for having a certain number of students enrolled. By being forced to turn away students, the district is losing more money-money that is desperately needed.According to the Senate, no more cuts to classes or sections will be made, however, if staff is cut, surely classes will go with them. Or even if they don’t, a great work load will fall onto the remaining teachers, which will surely affect the quality of education students are getting. This cannot happen.By taking a firm stance on these tough issues, the Senate is sending a much needed “wake up and smell the coffee” message to the powers that be. Enough is enough.