Financial hardships continue for Bakersfield College as the Kern Community College District budgets for another year of uncertainty.
Though a new state budget was passed that allows for an increase in money for community colleges, KCCD officials did not anticipate that those finances would still be in the planning when they put together their new budget.
“In the current budget passed for the state of California, there is an increase. There are some growth dollars for community colleges. When they put that in the budget, very few people believed we would ever see that. And so, we at Bakersfield College, and the whole district, we did not incorporate those potential dollars,” said Greg Chamberlain, BC president.
Chamberlain is optimistic that mid-year cuts will not have to be made but is less certain about the near future.
“I would anticipate needing to make some further cuts going into next year,” Chamberlain said.
One cut that Chamberlain and the KCCD are not looking to make is the removal of the summer school program.
“Our board of trustees believes that the Kern Community College District should have a summer program. There are some colleges in the state that have eliminated summer school, we will not be doing that,” Chamberlain said. “However, how many courses are offered this summer will depend somewhat on what happens with mid-year budget cuts and with what we know about next year’s budget cuts.”
Class courses being lost are another concern for Chamberlain, but he assures that the college will not forfeit their core classes.
“We need to make sure that we’re focusing on our three core areas that the legislature and the board of governors and the state chancellor is focusing on, which is transfer preparation, career and technical education and academic development – preparing for college work,” Chamberlain said.
He also stressed his concern for individuals getting into classes because of the high enrollment figures. “Classes are filling up very, very quickly and we will have a lot of people trying to find classes. We won’t be able to offer as many sections as there is demand.”