Foothill and De Anza Students Demonstrate in Sacramento Monday

Hundreds of students, teachers and others from Foothill and De Anza community colleges are scheduled to descend upon the state Capitol Monday and join tens of thousands from across the state to protest steep financial cuts to their schools.

Organized by the Student Senate of California Community Colleges, the annual “Day of Action” calls upon state legislators and voters to place a priority on higher education. Students have marched each year since 2003, when then-Gov. Gray Davis, faced with a $36 billion budget deficit, made deep funding cuts to public education, Foothill College student Stephanie McGhee said.

With large cuts to community colleges in Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget this year, organizers expect a turnout of 30,000. Buses, costing each school about $8,000, were scheduled to pick up marchers at 6 a.m. Monday from Lot 1 at Foothill College.

This year, the Foothill-De Anza Community College District could face a staggering $8-$22 million in cuts, said Kurt Hueg, associate vice president at . The cuts would take effect possibly in July of next year, because the college has a one-time “Stability Fund” to allow administrators to carefully plan for adjustments, Marisa Spatafore, communications director at De Anza College, said.

But even in the best-case scenario, the college will be forced to further reduce course offerings and lay off staff, according to district officials.

“These budget cuts are killing your dreams,” McGhee, 27, a single mother and second-year Foothill College student, said. She had to drop out of high school 12 years ago to take care of her family when her sister was diagnosed with autism and given one year to live. It has taken her a lot of effort to gather strength and courage to return to school, she said.

When she started at Foothill College a year ago, she was getting C’s and D’s, because it had been so long since she had been in school, she said. With help from the college’s writing center, she improved to obtaining A’s and B’s. But now the writing center is gone, because of the budget deficit, she said. She now has trouble getting into courses that have wait lists 30-40 people long.

“It’s discouraging when you’ve been told no, you can’t do something—and you’ve gotten enough courage to do it, and then you’re being turned away,” she said.

Etienne Bowie, a second-year student at Foothill College, said he was homeless before going to college and depends on grants and financial aid to attend class.

“I don’t get it,” he said about the proposed cuts. “You talk about kids getting into trouble, about not being able to find jobs. We need to be more prepared and educated,” he said about today’s economic environment. “What are they supposed to do? They can’t get into classrooms. They don’t go to school. They can’t work. It’s about fighting for what’s important.”

Fees per unit will likely increase from $17-$24, starting in July of next year, Hueg said. The fee increase is part of the governor’s plan to increase revenue and offset spending cuts.

“Most students who are full time take between 12 to 16 units,” Daphne Small, director of student activities at Foothill College, said. “It’s still more affordable than a UC, but for students who are already struggling, it’s pretty big,” she added about the fee increase.

In the best-case scenario, California legislators and voters would have to approve Brown’s proposed June tax package and extend Proposition 98 in order to keep the cuts at Foothill-De Anza College to a minimum of $8 million, said school officials. Proposition 98, or the Classroom Instructional and Improvement and Accountability Act, was approved in 1988 and requires a minimum percentage of the state budget to be spent on education from kindergarten through high school and two years beyond.

If the tax package fails, and voters approve the continuation of Proposition 98, the Foothill-De Anza Community College District would face $14 million in cuts, according to the Community College League of California. If both the tax package and Proposition 98 fail, the colleges will be left with $22 million in cuts.

It's uncertain whether voters will even get to vote on the tax package. Brown is still negotiating with Republican legislators to place the package on the June ballot, after passing his own self-imposed deadline last week.

The worst-case scenario would be “catastrophic,” Spatafore said.

Nevin Sarina, a fourth-year student at De Anza College, said the march is a way to bring more of his peers to the ballot. “I think getting people to care more about education and participating in the political process is also very important for college students,” he said. “This demographic is least likely to vote.”

Exactly what programs and departments will be affected has yet to be decided, Spatafore said. “Programs and services will be looked at in detail to plan for the inevitable reductions that we’ll face, because right now it is a matter of degree,” she said. ‘We’re beginning that planning process now. We are sure to speak with all of our constituency groups.”