The State Budget Cycle and You

The more involved I become in the governance process at Glendale College, the more aware I become of how much influence the state budget has on our day-to-day activities. While we all strive to deliver the best education we can for our students within our classrooms, every day, some college decisions are being made based on pure dollars and cents. This is not unusual—it happens in all districts, but here at GCC the transparent governance system that we enjoy allows one to see and influence these decisions on a daily basis. That is a process to be cherished and preserved.

     As an individual, being able to influence our district budget is one thing, but farther up the financial chain there is another body that needs to be influenced—the state legislature. The fees that our students pay are not paid to Glendale College itself. Rather, these fees per unit are remitted to the state coffers just as your individual state taxes are. There is no connection between the money a student pays for a class and how much of that money the school receives. Instead, the money that our community colleges receive is based on a percentage of the set-aside from Prop 98 funds. Prop 98, which passed into law in 1996, promised that approximately 40% of all annual state tax revenues would go toward spending on kindergarten through community college programs. This is a nice guarantee which the UC system and the Cal State systems do not have.

     The way the Prop 98 funds are divvied up between K-12 and the community colleges changes, often arbitrarily, from year to year. Changing the arbitrary nature of this allocation process is something the Community College Initiative will try to do when it is, hopefully, brought before the voters as a proposition in June 2008.

     And so we come to the present state budget cycle, which begins with the governor’s budget proposal in January. This budget, based on Department of Finance data regarding how much tax revenue is expected within the next year, is quite detailed. The governor takes the money earmarked for the community colleges and puts some of it into general funds and some of it into different line items. These line items, sometimes called categoricals, include everything from money for cost of living adjustments (COLA), instructional equipment and part-time faculty medical benefits, to disabled students programs, to name a few. Money placed in these categorical programs must be spent on the areas mentioned and cannot be used for other college expenditures.

     Once the governor’s budget is announced it becomes like any other bill, except that budget bills require a two-thirds vote rather than a simple majority.

Individual legislators in the assembly and the senate get to tweak the community college budget and suggest ways that money can be moved around within it and sometimes be added. This is where individuals, often working in tandem with others, can influence the shape of the final budget. By writing their own legislators and members of budget committees that make recommendations to the larger bodies of the assembly and the senate, individuals can push for changes that are important to them. In May, the governor reissues a revised state budget based on the April 15 tax collections. The legislature continues to debate the budget. The legislature’s final budget is a major compromise because of the two-thirds vote requirement. Once the two houses pass the modified budget, the governor must sign or veto this spending bill within 12 days of legislative action. However, the governor may use his line-item veto to reduce or eliminate specific expenditures.

     While we, as members of the Glendale College governance body, have influence over our own college budget, we need to also remember that the buck doesn’t start here; it starts in Sacramento. The influence of an individual or groups of individuals really can have some impact. I know when I see the part-time line items in the state budget that I had a hand in making those categoricals a reality. Your letters, stories and legislative visits can promote change—use your power. &

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“While we all strive to deliver the best education we can for our students within our classrooms, every day, some college decisions are being made based on pure dollars and cents.”