Editorial

Cuts at colleges could return to haunt state

West Valley College recently experienced the aftershock of California's energy crisis and the general economic malaise that's slowly tightening the state's purse strings.

West Valley fell victim to Gov. Gray Davis' veto pen when he cut a hefty chunk of community college money from the state budget. The West Valley-Mission Community College District lost roughly $1.6 million that would have gone to purchase instructional equipment and maintain the district's two colleges.

Both cuts portend potential long-term problems. For example, if buildings don't receive routine care and preventive maintenance, they tend to wear out and break down faster.

At West Valley, two buildings were scheduled to get new roofs. Other buildings need repairs to their air conditioning, heating and ventilation systems. Apparently, these projects will have to wait, at least until community college lobbyists can buttonhole enough legislators to sponsor and support a bill that restores the $98 million the governor lopped off.

The other area cut, instructional equipment, seems especially disheartening. To train workers, especially in a discipline that requires technological expertise, a college needs to be properly outfitted with essential, relevant gear.

Computers are a prime example of a teaching tool that needs periodic upgrades. If the equipment is outdated or in too short supply, the quality of the program could be compromised. This would indeed be a cruel irony, given West Valley's proximity to Silicon Valley.

Of course, the lack of an appropriate training environment could create a situation in which students will come out of community colleges without the necessary skills to land a job. Workers--especially skilled ones--fuel the economy, which is the engine that drives every budget, including the state's.

Evidently, the governor is trying to find places to cut that won't close doors to any student, either figuratively or literally. Cutting classes and boosting tuition are hard to justify politically for a governor who professes to embrace educational opportunity.

But if you start stripping the car for parts, eventually it's going to start running poorly. How long will students enroll in classes that won't properly prepare them for the job they seek?

Maybe these scenarios are overwrought given the early juncture of this current funding dilemma. But the governor and the Legislature should be aware that what they do now could have serious ramifications for the state in the future. Hopefully, the ongoing energy debacle won't be forgotten anytime soon, especially by those at risk of repeating past mistakes.

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