Cerritos College Trustees Discuss Budget Cuts Looming Over a Long Hot Summer:” By Kenneth Giron

Fall semester fee raised from $26 to $40 per unit


The Cerritos College Board of Trustees held its monthly meeting June 23, and discussed additional budget cuts enacted by California state legislation that resulted in an increase in the college’s financial and budgetary difficulties.
David El Fallal, VP of Business Services, reported the current budgetary situation faced by Cerritos College. He said in a spiraling downtrend plaguing many local and state school districts, California state legislation continues to postpone their budget plan to deal with a state shortage of 13.1 billion dollars.
The total budgetary deference of funds expected from the state has been estimated to have been $15, 233, 873. As a result, proposed cuts and propositions to withhold educational funds have eroded Cerritos College programs, notably Calworks and Federal Work Study—now completely defunct—alongside a 50 percent cut of physical education programs. The fall semester class enrollment fee has now been raised from $26 per unit to a significant increase of $40 per unit in order to meet with the tentative 2010-2011 budget. The intended budgetary plan for Cerritos College expenditure for 2010-2011 will be approximately $10,800,000, which is approximately $785,566 less than 2009-2010’s budget of $11,585,566.
On a more optimistic note, Felipe Grimaldo, student board member, accepted an award and $500 scholarship for outstanding student leadership. Following suit, senior typist clerk Kristen Towhid was proudly awarded Employee of the Month for the month of May for demonstrating efficient and courteous behavior beyond expectations.
The board also recognized the retirement of Professor of Mathematics Lorraine Edson-Perone, a remarkable professor who served 17 years of tenure. Edson-Perone was responsible for founding many math and math career programs, as well as coordinating mentor programs for math and science at California State University in Long Beach.
Edson-Perrone expressed sadness upon leaving her colleagues yet, quite poetically, found that her colleagues were her own lifelong professors, as the board has been “a true inspiration” to her. Edson-Perrone vowed to “remember everyone [the board] for the rest of her life” as well as fondly “remembering times with her office partner Mary Clerk and her colleague Sue Parsons”.
The Cerritos College Board represents an autonomous district within Cerritos College and is representative of their respective faculty and student body. All meetings are held in the Cheryl A. Epple Board Room, located on the College Campus in Norwalk.