Due to budget cuts, Cabrillo College will no longer be offering its selection of classes on wines in the 2011-2012 school year. The news comes as a blow to students studying to become wine stewards, but also to local viticulturists, who depend on people with a trained appreciation of wine. Wine-making is becoming increasingly important to the county, with 20 new wineries founded in Santa Cruz County over the past few years.
Due to budget cuts, Cabrillo College will no longer be offering its selection of classes on wines in the 2011-2012 school year. The news comes as a blow to students studying to become wine stewards, but also to local viticulturists, who depend on people with a trained appreciation of wine. Wine-making is becoming increasingly important to the county, with 20 new wineries founded in Santa Cruz County over the past few years.
Cabrillo President Brian King said he understood the disappointment, but compared the situation to cut to other areas of study such as early childhood or health care. Due to budget constraints, the school offers about 400 fewer courses this year than it did in the 2009-2010 school year, yet it is still faced with a $5.3 million deficit. “The reality is we are disappointed after every reduction we make,” said King.
Faced with the cuts, the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau is searching for other sources of funding so that the classes can continue in the coming year. The bureau calls the wine classes “a unique program that has an economic element for the community.” Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
