Riding Out the Storm: CTE in the Budget Delay

By Jonathan Lightman, Executive Director
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges

Nearly a year ago, we had a sense that piecing together the 2008-09 budget would be a challenge. The housing bubble burst, construction stopped, and unemployment increased. Naturally, the demand for public services shot through the roof.

California, like most state governments, simply can’t handle this level of hardship. Long ago, we lost the political will to raise revenues in pro-cyclical times, and cut them in counter-cyclical ones. Instead, we cut taxes when the economy booms, and reduce services when it tanks. It’s no way to run a government, much less a society.

In the midst of the budget delay, community colleges are experiencing double digit growth. With a jobless rate hovering at 7.3 percent, and student fees at four-year institutions rising faster than a Usain Bolt Olympic sprint, community colleges are doing all they can to keep up with the demand.

Our districts, however, cannot be expected to absorb tens of thousands of additional students without remuneration – and this makes the current budget delay quite maddening. At one level, districts are able to survive the wait, believing that a “just budget” is preferable to “just a budget.” We’re soon reaching a point, however, where the lack of cash flow will seriously hamper operations; at that time, we may be happy being stuck with any deal we’re offered.

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats continue to advocate revenue enhancement, while Assembly and Senate Republicans are adamant about a “cuts-only” budget. Long-term structural reform is in order, and who knows when that will ever occur.

In the short run, CCCAOE members should take this opportunity to showcase CTE programs to their state legislators at their local campuses. There’s a very specific reason for this -- politicians in both parties need to demonstrate to their constituents that they’re doing their utmost to get the unemployed back to work.

There’s no more efficient way for the state to move people from joblessness to gainful employment than through the community colleges.

While we don’t have a magic wand to erase a $15.2 billion shortfall in the state budget, we have the power the influence how the 2008-09 budget will be drawn, and position funding for CTE programs down the line.

No one is taking any solace from this prolonged budget battle. Nonetheless, we need to recognize that community colleges in general and CTE programs in particular, are doing better than most public services. We need to take advantage of this, and highlight, in as public a fashion as possible, the remarkable work that we’re doing.