SANTA CRUZ — The governor wants to pull the plug in mid-semester on some 1,900 high school students statewide taking advanced classes online to boost their chances of college admission.

Among those affected are more than 80 students at San Lorenzo Valley High School.

"How can students be denied courses?" asked Tiffany Bukowski, a senior who has juggled online courses in government and psychology with debate club and work off-campus. "It’s these courses that mold an independent and college- bound student."

Principals agree, saying online classes can level the playing field between large, comprehensive high schools that offer a variety of advanced college-prep classes and smaller, poorer and rural schools that can’t afford to give their students those opportunities.

The online classes are just one part of the university’s outreach services, designed to give disadvantaged students access to higher education and slated for elimination by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Several of UC’s systemwide outreach services are based at UC Santa Cruz.

UC and CSU outreach services will be the topic of a hearing this morning by the state Legislature’s education committees. Educators plan to make a case for investment in outreach and the Legislative Analyst’s Office will present options to lawmakers.

The governor’s press office said there would be no comments on the budget Tuesday and referred questions to H.D. Palmer of the Department of Finance, who was not available.

Word of the ax falling on outreach services came Dec. 18, as schools statewide closed for winter break. Some students haven’t heard the news yet because they are still on vacation.

The governor announced $150 million in spending cuts, including a $12.2 million cut in outreach, which would eliminate the services. He also announced two other mid-year cuts for UC: $2 million from the labor institutes and $15.7 million in unspecified cuts.

But UC President Robert Dynes decided not to shut down programs immediately. Shortly after the governor issued his order, Dynes said UC would not make decisions in response to Schwarzenegger’s announcement until after the full state budget proposal for 2004-05 was issued. That proposal is due out Friday.

"We need to understand the total picture, and we have an obligation to work with our employees and the people they serve in an orderly, deliberate, responsible way," said Larry Hershman, UC vice president for budget.

The December announcement was the second blow in six months for UC’s outreach services. The first was a 50 percent cut adopted by the Legislature for the current fiscal year.

"A lot of services were reduced," said Moises Torres, director of UC College Prep, overseeing online courses statewide with 22 full-time staff from an office in Santa Cruz.

As a result, there was no money to provide free supplemental textbooks to schools with online classes. Most students taking Advanced Placement courses review with a test-prep book to score high enough on the final exam to earn college credit.

Torres hasn’t laid anyone off yet, but three positions are vacant and won’t be filled.

Services that could be eliminated if the governor’s order stands include:

Free test preparation for the SAT college entrance exam, used by 12,896 students last year.

Free review for Advanced Placement exams, used by 20,088 students last year.

Free workshops to train teachers, attended by 680 instructors last year.
Torres said notices haven’t gone out to students.

"We don’t want to alarm students," he said. "We’ll wait and figure out the politics."

One problem is figuring out how to adjust the schedules for those 1,900 students if their online classes vanished.

Torres himself got a boost from taking an online class in Advanced Placement calculus when he was a student at Compton High School during the 1980s. The class was newly developed by Cal Poly Pomona, and Torres got a B-plus, which bumped up his grade- point average.

If not for that class, Torres is convinced he wouldn’t have been admitted to UC Irvine, where he earned a degree in computer science.

"UC would rather see students attempt a difficult class like Advanced Placement calculus and earn a B than get an A in basic math," said Andrea Hesse, associate director of UC College Prep.

Both Hesse and Torres are stunned that advanced courses and other opportunities that shape the future for so many students could simply disappear so quickly.

"The difficulty is the commitment we made to the schools," said Francisco Hernandez, UCSC’s vice chancellor of student affairs, who oversees online classes. "Students sign up for a full-year course, not half a course."

College Prep online classes in jeopardy
Responding to a lawsuit about unequal access to higher education in California, UC started this program in 1999 to offer advanced courses online to high school students to make them eligible for UC admission.

Here are participation numbers for 2002-03:

Students who took courses: 4,605.

Students who got SAT/ACT test prep: 12,896.

Students who got AP Exam review: 20,088.

Teachers who got training: 680.