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Woodland Hills, California
A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION
Volume 116 - Issue 3
Bond projects on hold
March 14, 2012
One copy free, each additional copy 50¢
Michaia Hernandez
mhernandez.roundupnews@gmail.com The Los Angeles Community College District is working hand-inhand with each of its nine campuses in order to make adjustments to its Building Program after a pause in construction was put into place by the district late last year. The moratorium was originally implemented in order to determine whether, considering heavy state funding cuts, it could afford to maintain and operate the projects under its 14 year, $6 billion Building Program. The postponement also addresses the issues of the effects of a $100 million shortfall and the possible change in the needs of the nine campuses in the decade since the Building Program’s bond measure was approved. “The space planning was not necessarily the best it could be,” Coby King, media contact for the LACCD, said. The building projects under the moratorium are in varying stages of planning, building and design, but none of them have begun construction. There are currently 96 projects, budgeted at $1.7 billion, under the moratorium, according to the final expanded moratorium list released by the district last month.
Photo illustration : Jose Romero
Budget cuts: There will be a $149 million budget cut in the California Community College system.
More cuts, fewer classes
To see more information about the moratorium visit us on the web at www.theroundupnews.com
Brittany Blust
bblust.roundupnews@gmail.com Community colleges, already short on classes, will have to dig deeper after the state announced a $149 million shortfall in projected revenue late February. “Nothing has been determined to be reduced,” Associate Vice President Bruce Rosky said. “There might be some programs that go through viability, but we’re unsure what those are at this point.” The $149 million shortfall is dispersed between the different community college districts. Each district divides the amount cut from each school. The Los Angeles Community College District’s portion was about $15 million. “Pierce’s share is about $1.5 million, but the district hasn’t said what’s going to happen with that. It hasn’t been passed on yet directly,” Academic Senate President Tom Rosdahl said after attending a District Budget Committee meeting March 6. The college is divided into three basic areas: academic affairs, student services and administrative services. “Academic affairs is reduced as much as it possibly can,” Rosdahl said. “The student services area has reduced some, and some more areas will be looked at. Then, administrative services is where you go next.” The shortfall is a result of the state receiving $100 million
Amount actual/projected funds have dropped since 2010
Amount allocation funds have dropped since 2010
less than anticipated for student fees, and $49 million less than anticipated from California property taxes revenue. “Half the students on this campus don’t pay the fees. When the fees went up, more students were eligible for the governor’s fee waivers, so less money went to the state,” Rosdahl said. When the college teaches more students than the state allows them, it is called unfunded enrollment. The school does not receive extra funds when the base is exceeded, Rosky said. “The reason they have to [cut classes] is because the state is giving us less money and the state says ‘you’re going to educate X amount of students,’” Rosdahl said. Students at Pierce have already been feeling the effects of classes being cut on campus. “It gets harder to finish [school] the more they cut classes,” business major Rodrigo Limon said. “I take classes at Mission College because of that, and I’m also considering Valley College.” The state is reducing the amount of students they are expecting the college to teach, classes are the variable cost that the college has. Offering fewer classes will cost the college less money, Rosky said. “In better times, when there’s growth money, the state
says you can grow,” Rosdahl said. “If you grow and get more students, we give you more money. That’s a growth mode, but we are not in a growth mode.” Over the last few years, student services programs such as Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOPS), which benefits students handicapped by language, social, economic and educational disadvantages, have had their funding reduced or taken away by the state, Rosdahl said. “We still can’t make the budget,” Rosdahl said. ”The budget has to be reduced in these two [administrative and student service] areas. The only other place you can reduce is when you go back to the union and ask for salary reductions.” Any salary changes will be negotiated between the community college board of trustees and the union if that decicion is made. Pierce College President Kathleen Burke-Kelly developed a task force before the February cuts were announced because of the complicated nature of this year’s budget cuts. Rosky is a member of the task force. “There’s a high probability they may have to look at helping solve the problem from salaries,” Rosky said. “I don’t know what that would look like.” Salaries at Pierce constitute 88 percent of the money for the budget and any cuts from this area would come directly from the Los Angeles Community College District, Rosky said.
Job Center closing its doors after 20 years A program that has helped students find work for more than two decades is closing
Brent Spector
bspector.roundupnews@gmail.com Pierce College will be closing the Job Center March 30 after an analysis between the functions of the Job Center and Career Center showed the Job Center to be an “unnecessary unit.” Pierce College president Kathleen Burke-Kelly ordered this decision due to lack of funding. Burke-Kelly was not available for comment.
“The Job Center is very useful, especially the website,” psychology and art major Willie Rogiro said. “Where else are [students] going to find a job? They don’t have much of a chance [without it].” The Job Center provides employers a way to connect with students easily, and provides students a way to access those opportunities and prepare for the interviewing process with free professional development services. Instructor of business
administration Richard Skidmore has been director of the Job Center since 1998. During his time as director, Skidmore modernized and expanded the capacities of the Job Center to help make servicing students more effective. Once the Job Center closes much of his work will be gone as he and the rest of the staff in the office are relocated to other positions in the school and any services saved will be
---------------------------“I got to meet a lot of interesting people here. I used to be a short tempered person, but now I have more patience for the people working with and for me.” -Bree Bogart theater major
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moved to the Career Center. “The people we have working here with us are on a federal work-
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study program,” Skidmore said. “The Financial Aid Department will find new positions for them, however, our partnerships with the community will be ended.” Another change that came before the order was the removal of Aaron Chan, a valuable staff member on a joint assignment between the Job Center and Cooperative Work Experience sections of the office, to the Office of Academic Affairs. “[The closing of the Job Center
Photo Salon winners announced The Media Arts Department’s 35th annual Photo Salon hosted their awards ceremony on Thursday March 8,w look inside for a complete story and a list of first place winners on page 5.
is] very disheartening,” Chan said. “Where will students get these services now?” Bree Bogart, a theater major who works part-time at the job center, feels her experience at the center was invaluable to developing skills. “I got to meet a lot of interesting people here,” Bogart said. “I used to be a short tempered person, but now I have more patience for the people working with and for me.”
Did you know? Saturday is St. Patrick’s day. Holiday is to celebrate the death of St. Patrick in the fifth century.