Board of Trustees Report

District Office

August 19, 2009

Budget and Finance Committee

Jeanette Gordon gave the committee an update on the budget for 2009-10. Our ending balance decreased from $60 million in 2007-08 to $46 million last year, a worrisome trend. Five colleges (City, Harbor, Southwest, Valley, and West) ended the year in the red, with deficits totaling over $7 million. However, due to the strong fiscal condition of East and Pierce, both of which have large balances, the district still is maintaining a 6.8% ending balance.

Meanwhile, enrollment increased by over 5% to just short of 110,000 FTES, well over base (104,000). But the state has now rebased all community colleges, with our new total set at 101,500. The state will pay us $17 million less per year as a result. This is a permanent adjustment, the rebasing we have dreaded. The district goal now is that colleges enroll no more than 2% above this new base, a drastic reduction from last year.

Gordon reviewed the various steps that the DBC is proposing that we take this year to keep the budget balanced. Adjustments of over $40 million are necessary. Beside reduced class offerings and health benefit savings, there will be a deferral from paying into our post-retirement benefit fund, and additional cuts to the district office. In addition, categorical programs—which are primarily student support services—will need to be cut at least $10 million by the colleges. There will probably be an additional $12 million in categorical cuts. If the colleges can’t absorb cuts beyond the first $10 million, the contingency reserve will have to cover the difference. Given that no furloughs, layoffs, or salary rollbacks are being instituted this year—at least, at present—categorical programs (and the reserve) had to take this large hit.

Sylvia Scott-Hayes suggested that we take advantage of this difficult situation to look at ways in which we could deliver education more efficiently. Modular developmental English classes and group counseling were two ideas mentioned.

Finally, there was a review of five-year projections for the district. At the current rate, they show a state shortfall of over $49 million in 2010-11 and the following year, with the situation improving to $30 million in 2012-13. These estimates are contingent on the state budget not worsening this year, however, which is an unlikely scenario.

Open Session

The meeting began with three public speakers. The first, Ron Martinez, was a bond auditor complaining about being terminated. He asked the board to reconsider. Larry Eisenberg said that his firm's services had been deemed inadequate. The second was Mary Rodriguez from Councilman Tom LaBonge's office. She read a letter of support from LaBonge for the athletic programs at City. It wasn't a very demanding statement, however, and Rodriguez seemed satisfied with Mona Field's gratitude for LaBonge's commitment to our colleges. The third speaker was Mohammed Diop, a basketball player at City, asking that the program be maintained. He said that he had enrolled there because of its outstanding program. Finally, a Rev. Raymond Baker added his concern about the loss of the athletic programs, saying "we need LACC sports, a proven success.” Jamillah Moore restated the reason for canceling athletics, which was to protect the academic programs. City is projecting a deficit this year of approximately $4.5 million (and ended last year $2.3 million in the red).Georgia Mercer asked about the approximate costs for running sports programs. If private support was going to be pursued, the board would need definite figures. None were given.

Field reported out of closed session that Tyree Wieder had been named interim chancellor. Dr. Wieder retired last summer after fourteen years as president of Valley College. She will begin her new job on Monday, August 24, and will be paid about $19,000 a month with a travel allowance. She will serve for approximately six months, until a permanent chancellor is selected. As interim, she can not run for the permanent position, as noted earlier.

The board narrowed its choices for the chancellor search team from four to two firms. They will settle on a firm this Wednesday, August 26. It's expected that senior staff will give them a recommendation between the two firms at that time. One of the firms, Community College Search Services, ran the last chancellor search two years ago. The cost for a search of this nature is between $30,000 and $50,000. It is set to begin on September 1.

Kelly Candaele reported on the Budget and Finance Committee meeting that morning (see above).

Eight classified employees were commended on their retirement. Three had served for over thirty years. Richard Guy, the longtime facilities manager at City and East, served for 29.

The resolution about canceling winter intersession outright was still on the agenda for procedural reasons. Since the board did not intend to approve it, it was not acted on, and so dies. There was, however, a long discussion about what the colleges plan to do this winter, given that they will be allowed to offer up to 50% of their normal intersession. City, Harbor, Southwest, Trade, and West will be canceling winter completely anyway (with the exception of classes tied to grants, SFP's, et al, that are obligated to run year round). Pierce will offer only one-fourth of its usual intersession. East, Mission, and Valley are going to offer half of their normal winter classes. Board members noted that they will be monitoring the situation closely. There is at least a possibility that circumstances will still require a complete cancelation of winter.

The John W. Rice Diversity Award is given to two colleges each year that have exemplary programs in advancing diversity, and Valley College was one of the 2009 recipients, due to its Early Start Program. A number of speakers, including students, presented it to the board. As its name implies, Early Start is a concurrent education program with Polytechnical High School, one of Valley's feeders. It now has up to half of Poly's students concurrently enrolled. Several complete their A.A. degree by the time they graduate, and at least 25 of them were admitted to elite universities, including MIT, Dartmouth, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. Faculty claimed that it was changing the culture at Poly. Patricia Siever, West faculty member and a founding leader of the DAS, was instrumental in starting the Rice Diversity Award during her tenure on the Board of Governors. Though she was unable to speak due to a family emergency, her husband Luther Henderson did so.

The consent calendar was approved after relatively few questions.

Comment

Tyree Wieder will make an excellent interim chancellor. We’re very fortunate that she was willing to return to guide us through this transition period. Among many other strengths, she has always been deeply committed to student success. She will also be the perfect person to direct the selection for a permanent chancellor. I had a long conversation with her on Friday. Among other get-togethers, we’ll be continuing our consultations on a monthly basis. Participating in those are the deputy chancellor, the vice chancellors, the DAS officers, and the senate presidents.

I wrote a longer report on the Budget and Finance Committee, as some senate presidents asked for more information about the budget situation. DBC minutes will go out later this week, for those of you interested in further details. Just let me know, if you want to be included on the list for them. I realize the news is pretty grim, but that’s where we’re at. One thing to stress: we can’t continue balancing the budget by canceling classes and slashing categorical programs. That will be very damaging to student success. Furloughs and/or salary adjustments are going to have to be part of the mix at some point.

Have a great Opening Day on Thursday! Amidst the budget gloom, there’s still a lot to be excited about. More about that in upcoming newsletters.

David