CLASS CUTS NOT LAST BUDGET HITS AV COLLEGE.

Byline: Jim Skeen  Staff Writer

LANCASTER - After cutting 169 course offerings from its spring schedule, Antelope Valley College officials say the continuing state budget deficit may mean more cuts ahead.

The college plans to create a task force this week to compile a list of possible cuts, but VC President Daniel Larios said it was too early to predict what kind of impact budget talks in Sacramento will ultimately have on the college.

``We're proceeding with caution,'' Larios said in an interview last week. ``We're offering the same service as last spring.''

After experiencing enrollment growth in their summer and fall courses, the college had expected to receive funding for growth in the 12 percent to 13 percent range, but state funding was for 8.5 percent. With the class cuts, AVC will offer approximately 1,580 classes this spring, said Vice President of Academic Affairs Jackie Fisher.

The cuts are expected to trim about $450,000 from the college's budget and leave spring course offerings about equal to a year earlier.

In a message to students, Larios said the college made cuts a few months ago but that additional cuts were needed in light of state budget problems.

The magnitude of the statewide reductions expected is so great that cutting some course sections now could avoid even more drastic choices later, Larios said.

Faculty union president Susan Lowry said the class cuts were made without the faculty being consulted as required by their contract with the college. Lowry called the cuts a case of the college administration reacting rather than planning.

Lowry said the college should look at leaving vacant positions unfilled, including both faculty and dean slots, as one way to save money. The college should also look for ways to do with less on a division by division basis.

``I hope we can deal with future cuts without class cuts,'' Lowry said.

Larios said he would not comment on Lowry's remarks.

Tom Nussbaum, chancellor of the state's community college system, said Gov. Gray Davis is proposing cuts totaling $215 million for the state's 108 colleges.

``No one wants to impose these cuts,'' Nussbaum wrote in an e-mail to the community colleges. ``Unless we and all others involved can help generate the will to attack the huge shortfall with a full spectrum of remedies (including revenue increases, deferrals, various user fees and smart spending cuts), the cuts we face today are just the beginning.''