Blog: The community colleges' budget has passed through Ways and Means
Dana Haynes can be reached at: dana.haynes@pcc.edu
The purpose of this blog is to provide accurate information about Portland Community College's lobbying effort during the 2009 legislature.
Dana Haynes, spokesman for PCC, joined the college in June 2007 after 20 years spent in Oregon newspaper newsrooms.
Just before the noon hour today (Monday, June 22), the budget for Oregon’s 17 independent community colleges passed through the full Ways and Means Committee with no cuts to the recommended $450.5 million.
The budget now goes before the full Senate and the full House, possibly as soon as this afternoon.
A quick recap: Ways and Means is the budget-writing body of the Legislature, consisting of members of the House and Senate. A sub-committee of Ways and Means, focusing on education, had recommended the $450.5 million figure for the 2009-11 biennium, up from as low as $427 earlier this year.
The budget for 2007-09 had been $500 million for the 17 community colleges. So this is a reduction of close to 10 percent.
Bad, yes, but way better than some state agencies are facing right now.
This would be a good time to contact some of the community college supporters in the Legislature and thank them for minimizing budget cuts during the worst recession in decades. I’m thinking of Sen. Margaret Carter of Portland, Sen. Rod Monroe of Portland, Speaker of the House Dave Hunt of Gladstone and Rep. Peter Buckley of Ashland.
To learn more about the 2009 Legislature and PCC, click here.
dana
Release: leg 107
Posted: June 22, 2009