Apportionment: Show Me the Money
Finding and Interpreting your College and Others’ CCCCO Revenue
Understanding your college’s full-time equivalent faculty (FTEF) allotment, revenue, budgets, or the terms your Chief Business Officer (CBO) presents at Board meetings requires exploring public, readily available documents. I regularly hear comments that range from competency to conspiracy when describing college and district fiscal decisions. Shared governance requires shared understanding. This post offers how to quickly access your district’s share of the tax bounty and all CA community colleges’ projected revenue.
- From CCCCO > College Professionals > Chancellor’s Office Divisions, link to College Finance and Facilities Planning
- On the right navigation menu, you’ll see a link to Apportionment Reports
- You’ll see a couple of links at the top that note what they are about, and below them are a current-to-previous listing of various reports. The linked notes inform you about dates and revisions to offer reports in order as apportionment changes based on district reporting of FTES and budget changes at CCCCO.
Let’s explore a couple of examples:
The 2020–21 Advance Apportionment Memo notes a summary of changes and offers clear definitions of what’s happened and why. Adjustments, deferrals, and CCCCO contact information are included. Reading this memo will help you to understand or counter what you hear in meetings. I find it common for this information to be misunderstood and rare that it’s misreported. Unfortunately, it is common for this information to not filter throughout the organization as it must.
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The 2020–21 Advance Apportion Report is where you see, at a glance, your college/district planned apportionment. As I mentioned, this number may adjust depending on FTES and the CCCCO in unpredictable economic times such as our current pandemic. Open the report and look for your organization. Here are a few interesting items to consider:
- 2020–2021 Hold Harmless Protection
- Statewide Categorical Resources Transferred to the Student Centered Funding Formula (SCFF)
- Deferrals with Student Equity and Achievement Program (SEA)
These examples are external to your organization. When you see unexpected items, it’s important to look up each rather than assume the worst. Deferrals, for instance, have been detailed as crippling to colleges; however, in reading further, the Advanced Apportionment memo notes:
- Apportionment of 2020–21 SCFF General Fund through January instead of November through a deferral of SEA program funding beginning in August to align with the statutory deferral schedule.
- Accelerated payment of a majority of other 2020–21 categorical program funding, through January 2021 instead of June 2021, to assist districts with cash flow flexibility.
This translates to the deferral of SEA and acceleration of a majority of categorical funds to support college fiscal stability. As such, the CCCCO reduces the deferral in a way as to not devastate or decimate colleges. Casual conversation tends to avoid details. Details are essential in this fiscal space.
That said, one success is often negated by another challenge. Colleges with increasing enrollments are held back by extensions in Hold Harmless Protection. Colleges with decreasing enrollments struggle to navigate and continue the FON (faculty obligation number with a small COVID respite) and shared governance program discontinuance.
Yes, understanding apportionment takes time; however, within five to six links from the CCCCO, all of the information you need is available. Money is not a mystery. And, we’re not really in shared governance if we are not prepared to discuss our fiscal health as readily as we are our schedules or Student Center activities.
Thanks, Kelly
