Whereas, Many students are eligible for fee waivers;
Whereas, The number of students eligible for fee waivers increases as fees increase; and
Whereas, A large bureaucracy is required to collect fees and to administer fee waivers;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges explore the net cost effect to the State of California and to the local districts of increasing student fees and, indeed, of having any student fees whatsoever.
Whereas, The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges provides independent oversight and policy direction to the 109 community colleges of our system in a public forum and is subject to the Open Meetings Act and the ethical behavior required by law;
Whereas, The California Performance Review proposes the elimination of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, although the University of California Board of Regents, the California State University's Board of Trustees, and the State Board of Education (K-12) would remain intact;
Whereas, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger commissioned the California Performance Review to identify "fraud, waste, and abuse" in state agencies;
Whereas, The California Performance Review purports that its recommendations would result in savings that practitioners and the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) contend cannot be achieved, and, according to the LAO, these recommendations may, in fact, cost the state considerably more money than is presently expended; and
Whereas, The California Performance Review makes recommendations regarding economic and workforce development;
Whereas, Research conducted by the Career Ladders Project has identified both effective practices and areas in need of improvement, such as student support services and integration with college curriculum; and
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has long supported the concepts contained in the Career Ladders Project as an effective means to improve workforce development;
Whereas, The California Performance Review makes extensive reference to the vocational/career/workforce development function of the California community colleges;
Whereas, Recommendation ETV26 suggests that the California community colleges should "reinforce the priority of the economic and workforce development role of community colleges;"
Whereas, The California community colleges have multiple missions defined in Education Code 66010.1 through 66010.8, including degrees, transfer, basic skills, as well as vocational; and
Whereas, Many programs are critically dependent upon the continuance of such restricted funding as Instructional Equipment and Library Materials, Maintenance and Operations, Matriculation, CalWORKS, and Vocational Technical Education;
Whereas, The California Community College System budget was recently modified to combine or blend some of these restricted sources into several block grants, allowing for the local districts and colleges to determine the portions of allocation within each block area;
Whereas, The 2004-2005 state budget reflects agreement by the Legislature and the Governor to fund the first of three years' equalization at $80 million with the intention to fund $80 million in the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 budgets; and
Whereas, The budget proposal for 2005-2006 under development by the California Community College System Office includes support for $80 million for equalization;
Whereas, AB1725 proposed program-based funding and established educational quality standards that funding should address;
Whereas, The program-based funding model has never been adequately funded;
Whereas, The Governor's current commitment to equalization has been an additional allocation on top of base apportionment; and
Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has a long-standing concern about the relationship between funding and educational quality standards;
Whereas, There currently exists a funding disparity between noncredit and credit funding, as the current rate of apportionment funding for noncredit is approximately 56% of the credit rate and does not provide adequate funding for program elements that are critical to the success of noncredit students, such as full-time faculty, general support costs, office hours, libraries, learning resources centers, and tutors;
Whereas, Education Code 87151 states that the Board of Governors shall annually allocate funds for the purposes of community college faculty and staff development; and
Whereas, Education Code 87514 states that faculty and staff development shall be operative during any fiscal year only if funds are provided in the annual budget act for that fiscal year or other legislation;