Since the passing of Proposition 30, Cerritos College President Dr. Linda Lacy has had discussions with faculty members to clarify what life will be like going forward for both students and faculty.
Prop. 30 passed with 59.91 percent of votes in favor and 40.09 percent against.
“We’re so happy it passed, but we have to still be a little cautious because of the fact that it’s a temporary tax, and a lot of the things we do have (are) ongoing cost ramifications but one of the nice things about it is in January we’re not going to see a 7.5 million dollar cut,” Lacy said.
Vice President of Business Services David El Fattal says that with Prop. 30 passing, Cerritos College will be less stressful.
Although Prop. 30 passed, it originally seemed like it was going to fail because the early vote counts were leaning against the proposition.
Cerritos College had back-up plans just in case the proposition failed.
“We put together a Plan A and a Plan B, and we didn’t want to put Plan B into place.” Lacy said.
El Fattal adds what the state of California would’ve taken away if Prop. 30 had failed.
“Prop. 30 allows the college to … not have to make drastic reductions that were coming and that were on the list because the state was taking away five million dollars this year if Prop. 30 didn’t pass.”
Lacy added that she felt disappointed at first when noticing the early direction of the proposition, but when it turned around she had a sigh of relief.
If Prop. 30 were to fail, then it would’ve caused more classes for Cerritos College to be eliminated.
Since the proposition passed, it will not only allow a fuller upcoming spring semester schedule, but it will also fund a 2013 summer session, which was in danger of being eliminated.
“We’re not cutting our classes further than what they have been cut in the last couple of years,” Lacy said.
It’s not just the classes that will be affected.
According to Lacy, full-time and adjunct professors will also be impacted by the passing of the proposition.
Both groups will be able to teach more classes.
“It’s going to impact all employees, faculty and all staff and students in the same way” El Fattal said.
While students can start to see a change in the 2013 spring semester, Lacy has looked ahead at Cerritos College life saying a bigger change will be felt during the 2013 fall semester.
“We do understand we need a long term solution to this problem so that in four years we’re not faced with this same dilemma and see us shutting the door on more students again.” Lacy said.
El Fattal adds, “It won’t be something that people see or feel next week but it is a good thing that we are moving forward in a positive way on all fronts, on a student front, on offering classes, on the building program.”
Prop. 30 will help eliminate the deficit in the state budget. Lacy hopes to start reducing the deficit after a couple of years so that Cerritos College can see more of a change.
“Right now it (Prop. 30) is just holding us (students and faculty) steady, and that is a lot better than what we were facing if it had not passed,” Lacy said.
Services that are available to students on campus, such as financial aid, would have been impacted due to a failure of Prop. 30.
According to Lacy, if the proposition would have failed, staff that serves students in areas like financial aid would have faced possible hourly cuts.
Students such as Daniel Gomez, Commissioner of Athletics and co-chair of Operation Outreach, had been campaigning and educating students on the effects of Prop. 30, as well as voting as a whole for the past five weeks.
Gomez, like Lacy, knew how Prop. 30 could impact the future of Cerritos College during the beginning of the election. However, he said he has noticed the importance of campaigning within the last two days before election day.
“From what I have learned and knowing that we were going to have an event at school on Tuesday (Nov. 6) from Operation Outreach, we had a chance of getting the word out to more people,” Gomez said.
Gomez also expressed his feelings about the passing of Prop. 30.
“I was ecstatic. I was one of those people who stayed up (until) four in the morning, (until) I knew for sure it was passed, and quite frankly it really did choke me up because I knew that Cerritos College had done its part.”
He continued saying that he looks forward to future Cerritos College students being able to come to school and have the same opportunities now that Prop 30 has passed.
According to Gomez, Operation Outreach’s involvement with Prop 30 isn’t over yet.
Operation Outreach is planning a celebration event as well as informing students one classroom at a time about what is to come at Cerritos College because of the passing of Prop 30.
