Twelve employees scheduled to lose their jobs Aug. 31 will keep them after all. Among the rescinded positions are three academic advisers at De Anza College, budget/business analysts and the director of De Anza's Euphrat Museum of Art.

Additional tentative funding from the state--known as equalization funding--made it possible to keep the positions, originally scheduled for elimination.

"We expect about $1.6 million, although the exact amount is not certain until [Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's] budget is signed sometime this summer," district spokeswoman Marisa Spatafore said. "We're facing extraordinary budget problems."

The district's budget problems are exacerbated by its dependence on the state for funding at time of rising enrollments and rocketing costs of benefits. Health benefits for the district's employees rose 19 percent in the last year. The district, which consistently has the highest transfer rates to University of California and California State University campuses, is particularly vulnerable as it is an underfunded district. Through a complex formula, the school receives a minimum of $3,700 for each student compared to a statewide average of $4,100. The national average is $8,200.

"In the company of the other 71 two-year colleges we have suffered greatly," district chancellor Martha Kanter said of the state cutbacks. Kanter said the Foothill-De Anza district is one of the lowest-funded districts in California. It ranks 46th nationally in community college funding.

California's equalization funding program is designed to help the district. The program launched last year, with Foothill-De Anza receiving $3.3 million in funds. However, a second year of equalization funding was uncertain in Schwarznegger's initial 2005-06 budget, forcing the district to cut 24 jobs.

Equalization funding has since been tentatively reinstated in the state budget, though that could change by the time Schwarzenegger's final budget is determined in mid-summer.

"We're very confident [that the money will come through]," Spatafore said.

For now, the additional funding for the positions is a small piece of welcome news at a difficult time for Foothill-De Anza.

Twelve employees, however, are still scheduled to be laid off at the end of June, including an employment-training adviser, two bookstore buyers and a media relations coordinator. Employees with seniority, however, can stay employed at the school by "bumping" other employees out of positions.