Mt. SAC president sounds off on budget crisis

John Nixon, president and CEO of Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, chairs the San Gabriel/Foothill Association of Community Colleges. Nixon makes some valid point in this guest column.

LIKE all families across California, the family of community colleges in the San Gabriel Valley is tightening its belt more than ever as it braces for severe economic challenges stemming from the state's budget crisis.

The family, known as the San Gabriel/Foothill Association of Community Colleges (SanFACC), is a regional caucus composed of Chaffey College, Citrus College, Glendale Community College, Mt. San Antonio College, Pasadena City College and Rio Hondo College.

Nearly 250,000 students attend SanFACC colleges, but those numbers are likely to drop with the projected budget cuts these six colleges are facing. Collectively, they could lose 21,200 students as well as an estimated net funding reduction of $55 million from the state in 2009-10. It is not a stretch to say that this is the worst economic crisis most of us in education have seen.

Read Nixon's entire column in the Walnut Highlander.