BUFFALO, N.Y. — The governor's proposed budget includes a flat funding formula for the state's 30 community colleges based on the number of full-time students, but thanks to declining enrollment, that amounts to a roughly an $18 million cut from the previous year.

"Community colleges are kind of in a tough situation now because the Excelsior Scholarship is out there and now we're losing students that would normally have gone to SUNY Erie to Buffalo State College, to UB, to Brockport, to four-year institutions," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, D, said. "The problem with SUNY Erie is it's basically been covering budget shortfalls with regards to lack of revenue from student tuition costs, increasing tuition as well as its fund balance. Well it's reached a point where it can't do that anymore."

The issue is compounded by the fact the county's accreditation entity Middle States Commission on Higher Education gave the institution a warning for dipping into its fund balance each of the last three years.

"It's been criticized for its lack of sufficient funding from government entities so if it receives lack of sufficient funding from New York State, that's not going to look well with regards to its issues that it's dealing with on its accreditation," Poloncarz said.

Poloncarz said the county gave the school an additional $500,000 this year. The school said it plans to work with state legislators in hopes of finding more funding.

Full statement from ECC:

“SUNY Erie Community College relies on established support from state and local partners to fulfill our mission in educating our students. While the outlined cuts to community college funding in the proposed New York State Executive Budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year are concerning, we recognize that the State is in the early stages of the budget process and are unsure at this point the direct impact on SUNY Erie. We welcome the opportunity to work with SUNY officials and our state elected representatives in the coming months to advocate for equitable funding to best meet the needs of our student population. Additionally, we hope to see support for the new funding model, proposed by the SUNY Board of Trustees, that would set a minimum level of funding, adjusted for inflation, to Community Colleges from New York State, as well as a minimum level of funding for Workforce Development programs operated by Community Colleges.”

Full statement from the State University of New York system:

"For SUNY’s 30 community colleges, the 2018–19 proposed budget provides flat funding based on a full-time enrollment formula. SUNY proposes a new model that would stabilize the campuses while also answering increased demand on this sector to develop workplace training in high-cost, high-need programs such as nursing and engineering. We look forward to discussing the community college funding model with the governor and the legislature as we address the 2018-19 executive budget."