2015-16 Budget Proposal link. COLA proposal.

A number of stakeholders have put in their requests for the new budget for 2015-2016.  The Board of of Governors have come up with a proposal with this input.  Go here to see the PDF of the proposed budget for California Community Colleges.

The budget proposal has some specific requests on COLA.  It is as follows: 

In 2014-15, California Community Colleges received a COLA of $47.3 million (0.85 percent). A 

COLA of less than one percent makes it very difficult for colleges to keep pace with increasing 

fixed costs, and does not address the major loss in purchasing power that occurred due to the 

years when no COLA was received. The estimated statutory COLA for 2015-16 is 2.10 percent

which equates to approximately $125M. Considering the COLA that was lost over recent years, 

we request a larger increase than the statutory amount to help rebuild the colleges’ vital 

infrastructure which has suffered from underinvestment. The system is requesting the state fund 

the estimated COLA plus an additional $55 million for a total increase of approximately $180 8

million. This would restore some of the purchasing power lost in years when no COLA was 

received, and would help with increased fixed costs as well as the impending increases in STRS 

contributions. This augmentation would have the added benefit of providing districts with 

flexible resources to meet local needs.