Cochise College Regular Governing Board meeting
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
DRAFT MINUTES
(subject to approval at the next regular Governing Board meeting)
COCHISE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Cochise College Willcox Center
6:00 p.m.
1. GENERAL FUNCTIONS
1.01Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Mrs. Jan Guy, Board Chair, at 6:05 p.m.
Board Members Present:
Mrs. Jan Guy
Mrs. Jane Strain
Mr. David DiPeso
Dr. John Eaton
Mr. Donald Hudgins
1.02Pledge of Allegiance
1.03Adoption of Agenda
Dr. Rottweiler provided the Board with an Amended Agenda, where new Item 4.04 was inserted and previous Item 4.04 was renumbered Item 4.05. Mrs. Strain then requested Consent Agenda Item 4.01.5 be pulled for separate discussion. Mrs. Guy approved, and the amended agenda was adopted as published.
1.04 Citizen’s Interim
There were no requests to address the Board.
1.05 Standing Reports
1.05.1 Representative to the Arizona Association of District Governing Boards (AADGB)
Dr. Eaton provided the Board with a written report on the AADGB meeting he attended Thursday, January 13, 2011. The report included that there was good representation of colleges; Central, Cochise, Eastern, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai. Yavapai is forming a presidential search committee as the current president is retiring. “Community College Day at the Capitol” is still on track, just waiting for a satisfactory date. The topic of the ACCT Legislative Summit was touched on, and Dr. Eaton was pleased to announce that Mrs. Strain and Mr. Hudgins are planning to attend. The proposed legislation pertaining to allowing guns on campus was criticized by all.
1.05.2 Representative to the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT)
Mrs. Strain reported that she and Mr. Hudgins will depart for Washington, DC on Friday, February 11th, to attend the ACCT Legislative Summit. Mrs. Strain and Mr. Hudgins will attend the Public Policy meeting on Saturday. On Sunday, they will attend the Executive Board meeting, followed by Mr. Hudgins attending the New Trustee Academy, while Mrs. Strain will attend the Region Coordinator’s meeting as the representative from Arizona; Dr. Fitzner, the representative from Yavapai, is unable to attend. They will continue through the agenda on Monday and Tuesday, and return to Arizona on Wednesday. Mrs. Guy stated that Mrs. Strain is the voting representative for Cochise College.
1.05.3 Representative(s) to the Lumina Foundation (Getting AHEAD)
Mr. Butler reported the subcommittee on community colleges met Thursday, February 3rd. He stated that one of the areas to be addressed would be renaming the sources of funding, because not all of that money is used for Operations and Maintenance, and Capital gives the impression that buildings are being built with a small amount of money. Therefore, although not a final vote, they would opt to rename Capital - Maintenance and Equipment, since that is what it’s used for, and then the FTSE money – Operating Budgets. They have run a number of different types of scenarios, all to the committees liking as community college CFOs, but he believes they would have a high degree of “sticker shock” to the legislature. Therefore, they have gone back and made their projections a bit more modest. He added the operating expenses would still be based upon enrollment and not necessarily upon completion; however, there needs to be some performance aspect in order to be in compliance with the Lumina project. He added they are waiting on a small amount of monies for the CEOs to complete their Vision 2020, and will recommend about 5% of the budget be based upon performance measures.
1.05.4 Senate
Mr. Bob Howell, a member of the Senate, provided a report. Mr. Howell stated the Senate met in formal session on January 28, 2011. Under new business, the Senate received a legislative update from Dr. Rottweiler, and an update from Dr. Fick regarding committee assignments and realignment of some of the committee responsibilities. The Senate reviewed and recommended approval of a faculty emeritus nomination for Dick Atkinson, a retired professor of health and physical education. The Senate also reviewed and recommended approval of Administrative Policy 3013, which pertains to degree and catalog requirements. Mr. Howell concluded the report by sharing that the Senate had a lengthy discussion around a wait-list procedure, and instructor access to the wait-list.
1.05.5 Student Government Association (SGA)
There was no Student Government Association report.
1.05.6 College President
Dr. Rottweiler provided the Board with a copy of the Governor’s budget, released on January 14th, which is clearly at the top of the legislative agenda, and stated that it is devastating to the community college system in Arizona. It removes 48% of state funding into the community colleges, and philosophically, changes the role of the state in overall community college education. He explained the logic behind the governor’s proposal; looking at some areas that had grown, and then making cuts from their portion. They allowed some things to grow, such as equalization and enrollment growth, and then came back and cut the system substantially. He added that, if the governor’s proposal goes through, Yavapai College will be less than 1% state funded (under $1M), with Maricopa coming in at under 1.5%, and Pima taking a substantial cut. Therefore, we are seeing the state removing itself from community college education. Dr. Rottweiler stated that the community colleges have a response, and he provided a handout showing statutory levels of where the colleges should have been funded by state statute, where the colleges were actually funded, and then the executive proposal. Under this proposal, funding for community colleges will drop from approximately $132M to approximately $68M, putting community colleges back to 1989 funding levels. He reviewed what the state is funding per FTSE; in 2002 the state was funding a little over $1,400 per student - this proposal has the state funding $505 per student. It is a substantial cut that, in many instances, is being called a “game changer”.
Dr Rottweiler stated he had to opportunity to meet with Governor Brewer’s office on February 3rd, and while the meeting was cordial, the consensus coming out of the meeting was that it hadn’t done any good, and if anything, it may have done some damage. In speaking to their chief budget officer, there is concern about the waiver around Medicare. If they don’t get that waiver, all bets are off on everything, and by 2014 the entire state budget will be Medicare; there will be nothing else. Also, the one cent optional sales tax is scheduled to end in 2014. At one point it was believed that 2012 would be the cliff and things would get better from there. Now, it appears that 2014 will be an even bigger cliff. Dr. Rottweiler added that when the governor’s proposal came out, he shared with Senior Administration that while it’s devastating to the system, it might be the best case scenario as we move forward. In detail, overall the cuts to the system are devastating; to Cochise College it about $1.7M, which is substantial. However, we were helped by our growing enrollments and equalization. Dr. Rottweiler had the opportunity to speak with our legislative delegation, and while there is lots of sympathy and listening, there is not a lot of action. He is encouraging them to participate in the rural caucus, and Senator Griffin and Representatives Gowan and Stevens have agreed to participate. At this point, they are looking to possibly change the governor’s budget or make other recommendations around the percentage of the cuts. He added that community colleges make up 1% of the budget, but are responsible for 6% of the cuts, which is disproportionate to the community colleges.
Dr. Rottweiler provided the Board with a recent list of bills being tracked that pertain to community colleges, and drew their attention to a few. In speaking with various lobbyists, there are numerous bills being introduced, and by their estimation, several bills are being passed with very little scrutiny, very little in-depth analysis, being passed on straight party lines, and just moving through the system. There are numerous gun bills, and Bill 1319 and Bill 2485 which talk about property replacement. Dr. Rottweiler added that other areas of great concern to the Governing Board concern provisional community colleges, particularly Gila Community College. There are also some bills from Senator Griffin, with whom Dr. Rottweiler has worked closely, related to Santa Cruz County Provisional Community College District (SCCPCCD), to help create some resources. Dr. Rottweiler has met with the Board Chair of the SCCPCCD to discuss areas where he supports them and areas in which he opposes some of their legislation; he will keep a close watch on this. He then drew the Board’s attention to another area – community colleges offering baccalaureate degrees, stating that there is a high likelihood of these bills making it through the legislature, and he will follow this closely.
Dr. Rottweiler provided the Board with the ACCPC’s completed draft document: Arizona Community Colleges: Long-Term Strategic Vision, stating this is somewhat of a response to the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) Vision 2020. An enormous amount of hard work has gone into this document, and it provides some benchmarks of what they would like the colleges to be as they move forward, and it is a document that shows the hard work by all the colleges partnering together in a true systems approach to say, “Here’s what we’ll provide the state of Arizona”. Dr. Rottweiler feels this will solve 90% of the criticism of community colleges at the state level simply by having it, in the sense that they always ask, “What is the plan of the community colleges?” The document is based around three areas; access, retention, and completion.
Work continues to move forward around master facility planning. A proposed solution for improvements to Huachuca Hall will be brought before the Board this evening, which provides a much more reasonable price than that which was earlier brought to the Board by the architects. Dr. Rottweiler stated it is a long term solution, and it will get us where we need to be if are going to provide student housing.
The Budget process is underway, right now working very hard on the revenue side of the equation, starting with the state revenue and the governor’s recommendation. Dr. Rottweiler has instructed senior administration to begin thinking about at least planning into the future a scenario where there is no state aid. Capital outlay, approximately $1.2M that came to Cochise College, is completely gone out of every budget – it is no longer part of the equation. We will begin with the governor’s recommendation for this year, and then begin to ratchet down if we begin to lose 25%, then 50%, 75%, and then potentially all of state revenue. We will also look at property tax projections, due out on February 10th, to advise the Board as we move into Truth and Taxation. Tuition and fees is obviously the one area where the Board has the most control. Dr. Rottweiler believes tuition must be increased; therefore, a recommendation will be brought to the Board to increase tuition and fees, not only as revenue backfill, but also politically because the perception is that the students can carry a much higher burden, and so to not do that would not put us in a good light. Administration will most likely be recommending a $6 - $9 increase. Dr. Rottweiler added that, if we were to make up all the lost revenue out of the budget cut, it would be $20 per credit hour. Obviously, that will not be the recommendation; however, he will use a balanced approach of increasing revenue and decreasing expenditures, which will be achieved through the budgeting process. There will also be a recommendation for an increase in fees, looking at programs that use a lot of consumables, which has historically been taken out of the general budget. Fees will be placed on courses specific to those that are consuming those items. On the expenditure side, administration will insure that the budget is student centered, employee friendly, and future focused as Dr. Rottweiler believes these areas are most important as we move forward.
Faculty and Staff Development Day is February 15th, and Dr. Rottweiler will introduce the budget scenario to the employees, bearing not only bad news but also hope as we begin to move forward. He will share our mission, vision, values, and the whole concept of a “General Motors moment.” We need to re-engineer how we do education if we are to be successful as we move forward to fulfill our mission within the confines of what we have been provided.
Regarding general information, Dr. Rottweiler shared there will be a Civil Rights visit next week. The Arizona Department of Education will be in the district looking at our civil rights compliance. There was no complaint or issue; our district just happened to be chosen for review this year. Dr. Fick and Mr. Howell have worked very closely with the team to gather information, and they feel confident where we are.
The college will be visited by the Higher Learning Commission on April 4th and 5th. Again, there were no complaints or issues, we were just chosen as the visit relates to outreach sites. There is currently much scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Education regarding educational services provided off the main campuses; therefore, they will visit Ft. Huachuca and the Benson Center.