Las Positas College Foundation

November 2012
Special Election Edition Newsletter

 

Dear Friends:

 

The Las Positas College Foundation welcomes support from all members of our Tri-Valley Region. That is one reason that the Board of Directors does not take positions on political matters... be they candidates or other issues. In this special edition of the LPC Foundation Newsletter, we are not advocating for any specific position... except to encourage readers to be informed about two items that affect Las Positas College.

 

Today, the three College and University systems (i.e., The University of California, California State University and the 112 Community Colleges) are faced with the most daunting challenge in the almost 150 year history of public higher education in California. As citizens, we are all painfully aware of the impact of the "Great Recession" that has impacted our national and world economies since 2008. All financial sectors have been adversely affected by forces seemingly beyond our power to control. Today we want to apprise you of the grave fiscal impact of the downturn on one sector and about two proposed answers for addressing the situation.

 

Education, especially higher education, is crucial to building a resilient economy. It is vital to making our next generation competitive. It is our future. As a result, developing a broadly-educated populace has always been widely-held aspiration of Californians. Our strides in achieving that goal have made us the envy of the country and the world... until recently.

 

The Challenge

 

In the past four years, California's higher education systems have seen severe reductions in funding. This has profoundly impacted their stellar reputations for preeminence and accessibility. Since FY 2009-10, the Community College system as a whole has had to cut approximately $535M from its budget. Chabot and Las Positas Colleges together have had to reduce their budgets by $16M or 16%, in the past two years.

 

The unprecedented beyond "to the bone" cuts at the two colleges in our Chabot-Las Positas College District have had to two demonstrable impacts in the past two years:

 

  • Enrollments at the two colleges have decreased by more than 3,500 students; LPC alone has been unable to serve 1,300 individuals who have wanted to attend! This is especially significant when viewed with the knowledge that community college enrollments generally increase in down economies. In today's environment, there is simply insufficient space for those who seek local higher education.
  • The two Colleges cannot fully meet the needs - not "desires," but requirements - of the students who are enrolled. In the Fall 2012 semester, 15,000 students at Chabot and Las Positas Colleges were on Wait Lists for classes. As a result, what theoretically should be a two-year experience for a full-time student at our community's colleges may take up to three, four or more years through no fault, or outside obligations, of the students.

 

Proposed Solutions

 

Responses to the challenges posed by the economic downturn have been proposed on both a state-wide and local level. Here we will focus on two of those with the sincere hope that all members of our regional community will investigate them further. Both measures appear on the November 6 election ballot.

 

Proposition 30*

 

According to the California Legislative Analyst's Office, Proposition 30, if passed, will raise revenue of approximately $6 billion annually from FY 2012-13 to FY 2016-17.

 

In that event, the California's 112 Community Colleges will receive $209 million. If the initiative fails, the community college system will be cut more than $338 million.

 

Chabot and Las Positas Colleges have already addressed reduced state funding by cutting their budgets by approximately $4.5 million for the current fiscal year. This has resulted in staff cut-backs and, as noted, reductions in available classes. In the event that Proposition 30 does not pass in November, the two-college district will have to cut almost $2.25 million more. Such a situation will most assuredly result in still more classes having to be cut from the schedule and, very likely, additional staff lay-offs.

 

If Proposition 30 is successful, Las Positas College will not have to reduce its budget and negatively impact its students. This will be welcome and help stem the tide of the cut-backs that are affecting the lives and educations of the College's students. It will not, however, be sufficient to restore all cuts made up to this point; it will not adequately fund the educations of the students who want to attend the College. As a result, there is a measure on the November 6 ballot that is asking our local voters to further help our students.

 

Measure 'I'

 

The Trustees of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District are asking the regional constituencies of the two colleges to approve a parcel tax of $28 per year for six years. The proposed fee is flat per parcel; it is not based on assessed valuation. If passed, it will raise approximately $5.6 million annually.

 

If both Proposition 30 and Measure 'I' are approved, sufficient funds will flow to the budgets of the two colleges to restore classes that have been cancelled and to hire back some of the staff members who have had to be laid-off. Las Positas College students will be the immediate beneficiaries of such a positive outcome for the two measures.

 

* Proposition 30 should not be confused with Proposition 38 which does not impact the lives of students in higher education.  

 

 

Once again, please take every opportunity to learn more about the two November 6 ballot measures that we have mentioned. In the final analysis, the real beneficiaries of having a vibrant, academically-sound and intellectually-challenging institution in our community are the residents of the cities and unincorporated areas served by the Las Positas College. Our community's college is committed to developing educated and committed citizens who will make our region one of the best in the state and nation and who will pass on their knowledge and dreams to yet future generations.

 

We hope you've found this special edition of our newsletter to be informative. As always, please feel free to contact the LPC Foundation at [email protected] or by phone at (925) 424-1010.  

 

Sincerely,

 

Ted Kaye
Las Positas College Foundation