With Jan. 22 approaching, time is running low for the petition of the Community College Initiative that will change the way proposition 98 revenue is allocated to the public schools of California.
The sponsors of this initiative include: Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, California Federation of Teachers, Community College League of California, and Los Angeles College Faculty Guild.
Proposition 98 was authorized in California in 1988. To match the problem of California’s booming student enrollments, Prop 98 increased funding and accountability of school expenditure.
At the time of it’s conception, Prop. 98 gave 89 percent of public school funding to grades K-12; however, grades 13-14 only received 11 percent of the funds.
“The Community Colleges haven’t been given as much as promised,” said Eric Brenner, editor-in-chief of the American Federation of Teacher’s Monthly Journal, The Advocate.
The problem comes from the increasing enrollment levels of grades 13-14, and the decreasing enrollments of grades K-12. The 11 percent allocated for community college funding is not sufficient for the community colleges in California.
“The projection for K-12 population is going to go down,” says Dan Kaplan, executive secretary for the American Federation of Teachers. “That could imply serious problems for the community college system.”
To help resolve these issues, the community college initiative will write into the constitution the ability for local school boards to govern and allocate funding for their community.
It will also create a separation of funding between grades K-12 and grades 13-14. The funds will be based on criteria of population growth and currency inflation.
This initiative will provide the Community College Board of Governors and Chancellor with authority similar to that of the UC and CSU system-to hire their own vice chancellors, instead of having the vice chancellor appointed by the governor. Thus, it gives greater authority for the local colleges to elect their officials.
If passed, the Community College initiative would tie student fees with student income. Class tuition will be reduced to $20 per unit.
The initiative will make it so that there are no new taxes, and it will not hurt the establishments of K-12.
If we continue without change the community colleges would actually see a decline in funding and will not be able to meet the cost of living for community college employees as inflation rises.
Without proper funding we can face increases in student funding, and this jeopardizes the ability for California to provide higher education to its population.
The community college initiative is still in its petitioning stage, which means it still needs roughly half-a-million signatures before it can be brought to the ballots.
“It’s not good enough to just get the teachers involved,” said Rick Hough of Skyline College, the co-chair for the AFT. “We need tables outside the quad to inform the students.”