Budget and Finance

Whereas the Congress of the United States directs funds to the states in the form of block grants, and

Whereas a trend is emerging to focus on receiving funding from areas that do not come under shared governance such as foundations and bookstore accounts that can be spent freely by the governing board and administration without shared governance involvement, and

Whereas the practice of redirecting categorical funds with loosely defined decisions by as few as two or three individuals appears to be common operating practice at many community colleges, and

Resolved that the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges direct the Executive Committee to research best practices in planning and budgeting processes and to develop and present a paper at a future plenary session highlighting these practices with recommendations for local academic senates.

Whereas Section 53200(c)(10) of AB 1725 has provided for increased faculty involvement in committees having responsibility for development and/or oversight of budgets, and

Whereas faculty have the obligation to participate in a meaningful and timely manner in these budget processes,

Resolved that the Academic Senate recommend to local senates that the collective bargaining units be consulted in program evaluation procedures and in program reduction decisions.

Whereas proposals to increase community college funding that have titles such as "Academic Excellence" suggest that our colleges are not already doing an excellent job, and

Whereas there is information that reflects the great success of community college programs in preparing students for transfer, job skills, and citizenship, and

Whereas the public and its legislative representatives should be better informed about the successes of California community colleges,

Whereas the Chancellor and the Board of Governors have committed the system "in concept" to an outcome or performance based approach to additional funding for the community colleges, which represents a fundamental policy departure from historical funding approaches, and

Whereas the use of student achievement indicators to distribute additional funds will have differential impacts on college and district budgets depending on the demographics of the service area, and

Whereas the use of student achievement outcomes as determinants of funding for colleges and districts will create institutional pressures on grades, degree and certificate requirements, and general academic rigor, and

Whereas such institutionalized pressures can undermine the credibility of our programs, degrees, and certificates in the eyes of transfer institutions and employers, and

Whereas the Chancellor and the Board of Governors remain publicly committed to phasing in such performance based funding for the California community colleges,

Whereas the Chancellor has proposed, and the Board of Governors has endorsed, the concept of performance based funding as a funding mechanism for the California Community Colleges, and

Whereas performance based funding is designed to tie college and district funding directly to outcomes on selected student achievement indicators, and the Chancellor, under the guise of "Academic Excellence," actually proposed to the Board of Governors a price list for course grades, certificates, and degrees, and