San Mateo County Community College District board members met on Dec. 15 to discuss distribution of Measure G funds, a $34 parcel passed by voters in June to support community colleges.

The measure is expected to generate about $6 million per year, over the four years that it is in effect, for the three schools in the district, College of San Mateo, Skyline College and Cañada College.

College of San Mateo President Michael Claire proposed spending $1.86 million for CSM, with nearly $1.5 million going toward new classes, and the rest split between student services and program innovation.

"Had it not been for this, we'd be talking about further reductions, rather than adding courses," Claire said. "The bulk of our funding is going right into the classroom."

The board also bid farewell to Victoria Morrow, the outgoing president of Skyline College, who in conjunction with her replacement Regina Stanback-Stroud, submitted a proposal asking for just over $2 million.

The outline includes $1.2 million for additional class sections, an 8 percent increase over spring of 2010, as well as nearly $400,000 for student services, including registration and admissions assistance, extended opportunity programs and services, counseling and financial aid services and nearly $500,000 for course and program innovation.

For Cañada College, President Thomas Mohr proposed just under $1 million for faculty to teach new class sections, and about $600,000 for student support and $400,000 for course and program innovation.

Trustee Karen Schwarz wondered exactly how Measure G funds will be distributed throughout the district.

But, Vice Chancellor Jim Keller doesn't want to impose a guideline.

"The simple answer is that we wanted to see plans and not hamper the colleges by invoking dollar figures at the outset— so there was no formula."

But, it is unclear what Measure G's demonstrable effects will be and trustees struggled to find a metric to measure the monies' impact.

"Here's how many sections we offered that we couldn't before," said outgoing Skyline President Morrow as one metric for the public to measure. "Here's how many sections we're offering that the state isn't funding," she added as a second metric.

And, additional course sections will assuage student access to classes.

Stanback-Stroud explained that a recent course waiting list of 73 students led to the opening of a new class section, which wound up with 13 enrolled students.

"I signed up for 12 classes and, based on what I get into, I'll see what I take," said Vivian Abellana, the Associated Students of College of San Mateo president and acting student trustee.

Although the funds will reduce class size, students will still face difficulties enrolling, especially in science classes, according to Mohr, Cañada president.

In recognition of the county's generosity in passing the parcel tax measure in June, as a similar measure failed in the Foothill/De Anza community college district in November, newly elected Board President Richard Holober expressed interest in keeping the public informed. 

"I think we need to get out how we are putting those dollars to work to meet the student demand for classes," he said.

In 2010 Cañada cut 40 percent of adjunct faculty, 2,500 hours of counseling and 22 percent of its budget. In the fall Cañada was able to, with the promise of Measure G funds, add 21 class sections and 53 more in the spring.

At the close of the discussion the board passed the colleges' Measure G budget proposals, leaving the district's financial officials to go over the details before a final transfer of funds to each college, which should be complete by mid-February, according to district CFO Kathy Blackwood.