Concerned about being left out of talks that led to a deal to trim $2 billion in education funding from the next school year, the chancellor of the state's community colleges said Thursday that he's anxiously awaiting details of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget plan to be released today.

At a press conference Thursday in Sacramento, Schwarzenegger spelled out details of a compromise plan that will cut $2 billion from the $3.5 billion in education funding guaranteed by Proposition 98 in 2004-05. Under the deal, there will be no further cuts in 2003-04.

But the deal was brokered between the governor and the California Teachers Association, even though Proposition 98 covers community colleges as well as K-12.

California Community College Chancellor Mark Drummond said his office should have been in on the talks, but said from what he's heard, the plan "doesn't look like a wholesale disaster" for the community colleges.

"It would have been an act of great courtesy if they had asked us to the negotiations since our destiny is tied to theirs, so I would say I'm concerned," Drummond said.

"There is our system, too. We'll have to wait until (today) but it appears no great damage was done, and even possibly, we're going to come out slightly better so maybe we can restore some of the lost classes."

Drummond said he also has heard that the governor will recommend increasing community college fees from $18 a credit hour to $26, a 44 percent increase.

Last year, the fees increased from $11 a credit hour to $18, a 64 percent increase.

"Those are pretty rough increases," Drummond said. "It will be a huge impact on students, and we have to be very concerned about it, but the real story is the sorry state of affairs of funding higher education.

"We rank 47th in the nation as far as the funding of community colleges. It's one of the most important avenues to an education and we don't fund it well at all."

About 1.9 million students attend community colleges in California, with approximately 125,000 at the nine campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District, including Mission, Pierce and Valley colleges. About 15,800 attend Glendale Community College.

Statewide, the operating budget is about $6 billion. But the system suffered a $161 million midyear cut last year, followed by an $86 million reduction in the 2003-04 budget, said Robert Turnage, vice chancellor for fiscal policy.

And it was those state budget cuts that did the most damage, Drummond said, forcing the 108-college system to cut 8.7 percent of its classes, resulting in 90,700 fewer students enrolling this fall.

The state funds the University of California system at $12,216 per student for the cost of instruction, the California State University system at $8,154 per student, and community colleges at $4,132 per student as of 2002-03, according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission.

"We really are that first door of opportunity for people who don't have the basic skills, who can't speak English well," Drummond said.

"We have to make a choice: Do we really want a society where your choice is to work in a carwash or don't do anything, or do we want a place where you can go and get your skills together in a year and get a meaningful job?"

Peter Landsberger, acting chancellor for the LACCD, said he also was concerned about rumors that the governor might do away with the Board of Governors' fee waivers, which allow the system's poorest students to attend community colleges without having to pay the per-credit-hour fees.

Up to 40 percent of the students at Los Angeles Valley College, for example, have fee waivers. Eliminating the waivers would save the state $150 million.