2016-17 Governor’s Budget Released

Wow!  The newly announced Governor’s Proposed 2016-17 Budget truly heeded the call of California for a strong workforce.  Of significance is the infusion of $200M in new on-going (rather than one-time) funds in support of strong workforce implementation, another increase in funding for apprenticeship, and making permanent the $48M in SB 1070 CTE Pathways funds which were previously going to sunset.   All these proposals create a better environment for workforce training in California and enables our 113 colleges to better respond to the needs of regional economies. Note that no new categoricals were created.

Congratulations to all – the Board of Governors and Chancellor Brice Harris who championed the Task Force, the Strong Workforce Task Force Members, the field and external partners who informed the policies, my colleagues and Division staff at the Chancellor’s Office, and policymakers in the legislature and in the Governor’s Office.

Below are comments provided by Dan Troy, CCCCO  Vice Chancellor of College Finance and Facilities Planning:

          Workforce -$200 million added to the EWD item to improve and expand efforts for workforce, consistent with recommendations made by the Task Force on Workforce, Job Creation and Strong Economy. These funds will likely be distributed on a formula basis in the initial year, but may shift to a regional allocation where colleges funding will be determined based on certain accountability measures. More details on allocations will be known when the trailer bill language is released at the end of January.

          CTE Pathways (SB 1070) – $48 million is funded for this program on an ongoing basis. The Governor’s intent is to repeal the sunset date for this program to make it permanent.

          Apprenticeship – $1.8 million is provided for the purpose of providing parity to apprenticeship rates relating to various general purpose funding augmentations received by colleges in 2015-16 (e.g., the general operating expense funds, funds for full-time faculty hiring) for a new total of $53.75M.  

          The line items for Nursing, Adult Education, and SB1402 remain the same as the prior year.

Below are related attachments provided by Dan:

          2016-17 January Budget Update (link)

          2016-17 Governor’s Budget table (link)


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