Prop. 92 would change formula
SMC Higher education could be attainable at a lower price if a statewide proposition that would slash tuition at California community colleges is approved by voters next month.
Proposition 92, which would decrease student fees from the current assessment of $20 per unit to $15 a unit, has been embraced by Santa Monica College officials, including the professors’ union and the Board of Trustees, which passed a resolution in support of the initiative last spring. The proposition will be on the Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot.
SMC is among the 109 junior colleges in the state, educating a combined total of approximately 2.5 million students at an estimated cost of $8 billion each year.
While tuition at junior colleges is considerably less expensive than at four-year universities, student fees have been slowly on the rise the past few years, jumping from $11 a unit in the spring 2003 to $26 in fall 2004. Students got some relief last spring when a provision in an educational bill cut fees down to $20 per unit.
Susan Aminoff, an SMC trustee and past board chair, said the fee hikes had hurt enrollment at the college.
“When the fees went up in 2004, we lost students,” Aminoff said. “Fees went down a little bit last year and that was helpful.”
Under the new law, full-time students taking about 30 units would pay roughly $450 for the entire 2008-09 academic year, about $150 less than what they currently pay.
It would be a welcome change for Karla Orellana, a sophomore majoring in English at SMC. While tuition itself is manageable, it becomes a compounding financial issue when textbooks are taken into account, which cost more than $300 a semester for Orellana.
“If you lower tuition, then I’ll have money left over for books,” Orellana said on Thursday at the SMC campus, taking a break from reading a copy of Jane Austen’s “Emma” for her winter English course.
The lower fees are just one aspect of Prop. 92 that SMC officials say will encourage more students to attend junior colleges.
The proposed legislation would alter the funding formula to public education as set forth under Prop. 98, which passed in 1988 and requires a certain level of funding for K-14 education as a group. The level of funding changes every year depending on the nature of the economy and K-12 attendance. If passed, the new law would change the funding formula by splitting K-12 education and community colleges, the latter of which would be determined by the general adult population growth in the state and would not be affected by the continuing declining enrollment in K-12 schools.
“What Prop. 92 does is it separates us off from the Prop. 98 formula for growth and allows us to grow even though the K- 12 population is declining,” said SMC Trustee Andrew Walzer.
It is estimated by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office that the new law would require the state to spend more than $300 million more a year on K-14 education. While K-12 attendance is expected to decline in the next few years, the young adult population — defined as between the ages of 17-25 years of age, the demographic for junior colleges — is believed to grow between 2 to 3 percent in the coming years.
Proponents say the proposition would make state funding to the schools more stable, necessary in light of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal that would cut education funding by $4.4 billion.
“As the current budget crisis demonstrates, one of the first things that ends up being cut, unfortunately, is education,” said SMC board Chairman Rob Rader. “The state camp shouldn’t be able to budget on the backs of the various educational institutions.”
SMC’s budget is normally in excess of $100 million a year, Aminoff said.
“Currently, the community colleges and K-12 share Prop. 98 money and the community colleges are supposed to get a little over 11 percent … but in most years we don’t get that,” she said.
The proposed measure has been criticized by various business and taxpayer groups and the California Teachers Association, all arguing that while they support community colleges, Prop. 92 would result in increased taxes or cuts to programs like health care and public safety, forcing expenditures in a state budget that might not have room for it.
The Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association (SMMCTA) is among those that have aligned with the anti-Prop. 92 camp.
“Unfortunately, Prop. 92 would (take) resources from other educational needs,” said Harry Keiley, president of the SMMC- TA. “Our hope is that we can find a way to work with our community college brothers and sisters to work with the legislature to ensure the community colleges receive the funding that they need and deserve.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 11, 2008. Read the original PDF.