Dear Peralta Community,

I'm writing to share information with you regarding our current FY 2020-21 budget. As part of the annual California state budget process, the state provides apportionments, with First Principal Apportionment (P1) in February and Second Principal Apportionment (P2) in June. This is an update regarding our P1, First Principal Apportionment.

The Peralta Community College District (District) receives operations funding from the state of California in accordance with the Student-Centered Funding Formula (SCFF), which bases general apportionments – discretionary funds available to community college districts – on three calculations:

• A base allocation, which largely reflects enrollment.
• A supplemental allocation based on the numbers of students receiving a College Promise Grant, students receiving a Pell Grant and students covered by AB 540.
• A student success allocation based on outcomes that include the number of students earning associate degrees and credit certificates, the number of students transferring to four-year colleges and universities, the number of students who complete transfer-level math and English within their first year, the number of students who complete nine or more career education units and the number of students who have attained the regional living wage.

Despite a decrease in enrollment at Peralta (and across Community Colleges broadly), there have been adjustments made to ensure the District will remain at the same level of funding it received prior to the SCFF.

General Funding Background

The base allocation relies primarily on enrollment measures as of the current year, while the supplemental allocation and student success allocation rely on data primarily from the prior year. Generally, the Chancellor’s Office certifies apportionments three times per year with P1 and R1 (first recalculation) in February, Second Principal (P2) in June, and Advance in July; however additional certifications are completed as necessary.

Background – P1

The Total Computational Revenue (TCR) in P1 reflects the inclusion of the newly applicable TCR stability protection, which provides the greater of the current year or prior year TCR. Peralta received approximately $6.7 million in a Stability Protection Adjustment to offset the decline enrollment in fiscal year 2020-21. The Hold Harmless Protection for fiscal year 2020-21 remains at approximately $ 7.1 million.

2020-21 P-1 Summary

• 2019-20 R-1 FTES were 15,523.71 while 2020-21 P-1 FTES are 12,910.05, a decline of 2,613.66 FTES. The State Chancellor's Office used the Emergency Conditions Allowance to fund the District's decline in enrollment for the current year's allocation.
  • Peralta CCD received $ 6,652,536 as a Stability Protection Adjustment which is the difference between 2019-20 SCFF calculated revenue and 2020-21 SCFF calculated revenue.
  • Peralta CCD received $ 7,125,422 in 2020-21 as the Hold Harmless Protection Adjustment.

Summary

While we are receiving the same amount of TCR, we have a $13.7 million potential "SCFF Cliff" gap we need to address (approximately $6.65 million for Stability Protection Adjustment and approximately $7.1million from Hold Harmless adjustment).  We all need to work together in order to reduce this "SCFF Cliff."  We can do this via our work on Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) as we strive to both increase enrollment and control costs.