Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Community colleges’ budgets set

Photos and story by Dana Haynes

A committee of the Legislature has set a baseline budget for Oregon’s 17 independent community colleges, including Portland Community College.

The budget for the 2011-13 biennium would be $410 million. PCC’s portion of that would come to approximately $102.5 million for the academic years of 2011-12 and 2012-13.

The $410 allocation continues the precipitous decline in state support for community colleges, as a result of the recession and slow recovery. At the end of the 2009-11 biennium, the community college budget for the state was $500 million. That dropped to $450 million halfway into the current biennium, then down to approximately $417 million today.

The Education Sub-Committee of the budget-writing Ways & Means Committee unanimously passed the Community College Support Fund on Wednesday. The budget goes to the full Ways & Means Committee next week, then must be approved by both the House and Senate, before going to the governor for his signature.

The sub-committee not only passed the budget unanimously, but unanimously denounced the budget as too low. Rep. Bill Garrard, R-Klamath Falls, send he intended to vote “yes” then go back to his district and to apologize directly to Gerald Hamilton, president of Klamath Falls Community College.

Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton, said the underfunding of Oregon’s community college is more dire than the underfunding of the state’s K-12 school districts.

Rep. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland and a retired PCC instructor, called the budget “painful” and predicted “awful tuition increases” at Oregon’s smaller community colleges, which are less able to take the financial hit.

“We need to look forward to better days, remember these words today and to put community colleges at the head of the line,” Dembrow said. “When the good times come, I hope we remember the vows made during bad times.”

Preston Pulliams, president of Portland Community College, said the continuing decline in state support is a burden but added his praise for the hard work that the lawmakers put into crafting the budget.

“These are tough times. We understand that,” he said. “The Legislature is grappling with a terrible economy. But we have faith that the verbal support we received from our elected officials will translate into a re-investment in education when the economy fully recovers.”

Sen. Rod Monroe, co-chairman of the Education Sub-Committee, said that if the economy continues to improve, the Legislature could reopen the community college budget during the February 2012 session.

Besides, PCC, the Community College Support Fund assists schools in Pendleton, Bend, Salem, Oregon City, Astoria, The Dalles, Klamath Falls, Eugene, Albany, Gresham, Newport, Grants Pass, Coos Bay, Tillamook, Ontario and Roseburg. The fund also supports the Office of Community College and Workforce Development, a department within Gov. John Kitzhaber’s executive branch.

To learn more about PCC’s legislative activities, or what issues could affect the college, visit www.pcc.edu/about/legislature