LAO 2013-14 Budget Analysis for California Higher Education

The Legislative Analyst Office has issued some insights into the 2013-14 budget.

It states that:

Overview
California’s public higher education system consists of the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), California Community Colleges (CCC), Hastings College of the Law (Hastings), and the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC). The Governor’s budget provides $11.9 billion in General Fund support for higher education in 2013–14. This is $1.4 billion (13 percent) more than the revised current–year level. After making adjustments for enrollment and accounting changes that otherwise would distort year–to–year comparisons, programmatic per–student funding increases 4 percent at UC, 7 percent at CSU, and 10 percent at CCC.

You can review the website to see how the funds will be distributed.  It is however clear that the Great Recession has severely damaged higher education in California.

The Governor has proposed a significant change in community college funding.  The LAO reports that:

Bases CCC Funding on Course Completions Rather Than Enrollment. The Governor also proposes to change the basis on which community college districts are funded for credit instruction. Currently, the amount of funding a district receives depends largely on the number of students enrolled at “census”—a point defined in CCC regulations as one–fifth into a given academic term (typically the third or fourth week of the semester). If a student drops a course after this date, the college still earns full payment for that student. Beginning in 2013–14, the Governor proposes to add a second CCC census date at the end of each term. Over a five–year period, there would be a gradual shift in the relative weight of these census dates for purposes of calculating district enrollment. By 2017–18, community colleges would be funded exclusively on the number of students still enrolled in their courses at the end of each term. According to DOF, any reduction in a district’s enrollment (apportionment) monies resulting from this policy change would be automatically redirected to that district’s Student Success and Support categorical program, which funds assessment and counseling services. Districts that do not show improvement in course completions after a certain period of time (as defined by the Board of Governors [BOG]) would have this redirected funding swept and reallocated to other colleges. According to the Governor, the purpose of his proposal is to “more appropriately apportion funding by focusing on completion” as well as to provide community colleges with incentives to ensure appropriate student placement and good course management.

This is potentially problematic to districts with low success rate feeder schools like ours.  This needs to be carefully monitored.