The Money Situation

What does it mean for Cuesta?

The news is better than expected from the Governor’s May Revise of the 2005-06 State budget. Here’s a short breakdown:

• 4.23% COLA ($1,492,608 for Cuesta)
• 3% Growth Statewide (1.49% for Cuesta)
• Equalization--$40 million Statewide ($300,000 for Cuesta)
• PFE Restoration--$31.4 million Statewide ($230,000 for Cuesta)

The May Revise increases the statewide community college budget by approximately $83 million above the January budget proposal. The significant increase raises the community college share of Proposition 98 to 10.46 percent.

Here’s a breakdown of how the May revise affects community colleges on a statewide level:

• Restoration of $31.4 million Proposition 98 General Fund to reflect agreement between the Administration and California Community Colleges to implement a meaningful, district-specific accountability framework pursuant to Chapter 581, Statutes of 2004 (AB 1417). (Note: this increase would be for the 2005-06 fiscal year, and would not include restoration of the 2004-05 cut.)

• An increase of $17.4 million in one-time local assistance from the Proposition 98 Reversion Account on top of the $20 million provided in the Governor’s Budget to expand the Governor’s Career-Technical Education Initiative for a total of $37.4 million. These additional funds will be used to support additional quick start and capacity building efforts. The Administration also proposes three (two-year) limited term positions and $360,000 in federal reimbursement authority to implement and administer this initiative. While one-time funds are used for this purpose, the Administration proposes to evaluate program implementation to determine the appropriate focus and magnitude of ongoing funding in subsequent budgets.

• Increases of $14.1 million for apportionments and $830,000 in Proposition 98 General Fund for selected categorical programs, to reflect an increase in the COLA factor from 3.93 percent to 4.23 percent.

• A decrease of $359,000 Proposition 98 General Fund for selected categorical programs to reflect a revised statutory growth rate of 1.76 percent.

• The May Revision also proposes an augmentation of $10 million one-time for the California Community Colleges (CCC) from Proposition 98 settle-up local assistance funding for additional marginal cost support, equipment, and infrastructure related costs that will allow districts to increase nursing program enrollment capacity by at least 1,800 additional slots to respond to the nursing shortage as part of the Governor’s Nursing Initiative.