By Martin M. Goldstein

      There’s no good news in this story, no happy ending or even quirky twist of fate. This story gets filed in the SH file, the “Stuff Happens” file, the one where you put stuff that’s just plain bad.

      A lot of good teachers and counselors at Santa Monica College are going to lose their jobs here. That’s what’s happening, and that’s just plain bad.

      It’s pretty simple at least.  We’re going to have a lot less money than has been and is needed to run the school. A chronically under funded system, the community colleges of California, are taking a 5% mid-year cut system-wide, which translates to about $5 million here at SMC, with ever worse cuts of an additional $12.5 million for the next year.

      Basically, for this coming spring semester alone, 300 classes are going to be canceled, out of a total of around 3,000.  Given that full-time teachers and Associate Faculty part-timers have contractual obligations for this upcoming Spring semester, the bulk of this hit will be taken by the least protected (or most vulnerable) class, part-timers who do not have Associate Faculty (AF) status.

      The math is simple, but deadly. Each department has been asked to take a 10% reduction in number of classes. All the full-timers will get their full five class load, unless they request otherwise. Some, though hopefully few, will even take overload assignments. Then Associate Faculty for the Spring will get their contractual load in the spring, and probably, though not necessarily, for the fall and spring of next year.  This leaves almost all of the class cuts to be absorbed by the newer part-timers, or those who have taught only one class and thus were not eligible for AF status. For them the 10% cut will not be decimation, it will be virtual elimination.

 

      They did nothing wrong to deserve this. They are just as good teachers as you or I.  They are simply getting hurt for no good reason, which is just plain bad.

      And, while we’re in the mood, let’s not forget the students whose lives are going to be seriously disrupted when they can’t get enough classes to graduate or fulfill degree requirements. What message is that sending them, as the prison budget remains stable at about $ 5 billion? -- “We’ll won’t educate you, but if you have to rob a 7-11 to live at least you’ll have a place to sleep, eat, and work for the state after you’re busted.” Great.

      So, as I said, no good news here. These cuts will hurt, the next ones will virtually destroy the school as we know it, a school that is now the model of great achievement in public education. It doesn’t deserve to be hurt, either, but it will be, and badly. As I said, that’s just plain bad.

Budget Cuts Hit Home