Summer School Classes to Be Cut at Money-Short Community Colleges : Education: OCC and Golden West will be hit the hardest, with both schools reducing the programs by 30%.

Community colleges throughout Orange County are cutting their summer school programs because of the state budget crunch, with the most drastic reductions coming at Orange Coast and Golden West colleges.

OCC, one of the nation’s largest community colleges with 24,300 students, announced this week that it will eliminate 30% of its summer courses after having cut the current spring schedule by about 5%. It joins other community colleges that are trying to deal with state budget cuts by trimming classes and services.

Golden West in Huntington Beach will also cut its summer class offerings by 30%, spokeswoman Fay Hendry said.

“We are extremely concerned because it is contrary to the concept of community colleges, which is open access,” she added.

In the North Orange County Community College District, Fullerton administrators are planning a 50% cut in summer course offerings at Cypress and Fullerton colleges and are considering laying off classified staff members, according to Donna Hatchett, director of public affairs. Both moves are part of a larger plan to shave $3.5 million from the 1991-92 budget.

Community college officials say they have never seen such a high demand for classes at a time that they are facing dramatic cutbacks from the state.

“The state budget is wreaking havoc on our ability to serve the number of students that want to come to our college,” said Ray Giles, executive assistant to the Rancho Santiago College chancellor.

Rancho Santiago plans to cut 10% of its summer courses from the 1990 level to meet this year’s budget. No classes were cut this spring, however.

School officials are lobbying state lawmakers to change the way state funds are distributed to community colleges.

The state now allocates money to the colleges based on how many students that the state believes each college can accommodate. However, college officials believe this system is unfair because the state does not increase funding for student population increases of more that 1% above student population levels set by the state.

Community college officials say these budget rules penalize some schools that experience rapid growth.

“The best solution is that the state should fund colleges for the number of students they have,” said Daniel J. Casey, director of institutional services for Orange Coast College.

Newer institutions, such as Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges in South Orange County, have not yet surpassed the student population limits set by the state and do not anticipate cuts in classes or services.

Orange Coast, on the other hand, was 2% to 3% over its population limit last fall, but it must serve those students with the same resources intended for a much smaller student body, spokesman Jim Carnett said.

After cutting 130 courses from its schedule this spring, the college plans to trim its summer schedule from 581 classes offered last year to 402. More than 13,000 students enrolled in the summer courses last year, he said.

The college predicted the need to trim its offerings late last fall, and, as a result, has had to turn many students away.

“We turned away . . . in our English, English-as-a-Second-Language, math and science classes 3,000 students because these sections were full,” Casey said.

For students, fewer offerings mean it will be more difficult to enroll in classes required for transfer to a university, said Loretta James, an OCC student who serves on the college’s board of trustees.

Some students need to take summer classes because they work full time and can’t take full loads of classes during the spring and fall. Others simply cannot afford the cost of a full-time schedule throughout the school year, so they rely on summer classes to continue their education.

At Golden West, several hundred students have been turned away, many from English-as-a-Second-Language courses, Hendry said.

“When we deny them the ability to learn English, we are denying them a basic education,” Hendry said. “The students come up to me and they are just terribly, terribly frustrated because they cannot get into classes here or elsewhere. Some of them would be in tears.”

Casey blamed several factors at Orange Coast College on the current budget crunch, including a 6% to 8% pay increase for part- and full-time teachers and higher operating costs.

Officials there have tried to avoid eliminating the classes students need to transfer in the fall or to graduate, Carnett said. Most of the classes cut were offered at a different time, he said. Times staff writer Zion Banks contributed to this report.