Santa Rosa Junior College put summer class registration on hold to give administrators time to create a new schedule with fewer classes.

This comes after more bleak news from Sacramento; Gov. Jerry Brown will not seek a special June election to extend current tax rates that could cause SRJC to lose up to $12 million. The budget for community colleges could be cut between $290 and $720 million altogether.

“An ‘all-cuts plan’ at the state level moves the budget planning for next year to a worst-case scenario,” said Doug Roberts, vice president of business services.

SRJC officials hoped to escape from the coming budget with a $5 million reduction to its state funding, and were planning on a 10 percent cut to summer faculty. Instead the school will have to cut 16 percent of faculty in the summer and about 12 percent by fall, saving the school almost $3.3 million.

Dr. Mary Kay Rudolph, vice president of academic affairs, said the school has worked hard to spare transfer and vocational students by protecting core areas. Math, English and life science classes are mostly untouched this summer.

The classes being cut are PE, music and art. The school’s adaptive PE classes for ill and disabled students also have been hit hard. Last year the program was cut in half and now the school has put a cap on the number of times these classes can be taken.

The summer school program already had massive cuts within the past two years, declining from 308 classes in 2009 to 83 classes in this year’s original schedule, with more to be cut in the new schedule.

Full-time student Francesca Bistec is suffering because of the cuts. “I have already put transferring on hold for a year because I did not get into the classes I need, and now I have to switch math classes because they are only offering one Math 10 course in the summer, I’m really upset.”  

SRJC has cut approximately 400 classes since 2005, and by cutting 10 percent more next semester, the school may hold fewer than 2,000 classes. Rudolph urges students to do everything in their power to transfer as soon as possible. “If you have priority [registration], use it, go in and see a counselor, plan your education out,” she said. “We have to get down to the core mission, and the students are our core mission.”

President Agrella, who was also at the budget forum meeting, understands the situation, but trusts it is within the power of the community to work through it. “As dire as the situation may seem, I remain confident we can get through this if we continue to work together.”