Board Report - January 2009

Happy New Year! It does seem like it is going to be a very challenging year because of the economic situation. We are facing unprecedented fiscal problems globally, nationally, in the state and, of course, at Lane. It is my hope that we can meet these challenges in a spirit of collaboration, transparency and with the understanding that all of us will be impacted and that whatever decisions are made will require sacrifice.

First, let me mention budget development. There is not a great deal that has changed since our last meeting with respect to the Support Fund. The Legislature convened on Monday. It looks like their first priority is developing a stimulus package that can be moved quickly to create some jobs and also take care of facilities issues that need to be addressed. We have been meeting with legislators, and I think it is fair to say that our local legislative delegation understands that we were treated unfairly and that they will try to do better. However, we cannot ignore all the other cries for additional funds that they will hear. We are continuing to put pressure on the Department of Administrative Services to finalize our Essential Budget Level (EBL) number. There will be a meeting on Monday. I am sure that Cam Preus, Community College Workforce Development (CCWD) Commissioner, will share the latest with us later in the meeting.

We have been working hard to finalize a deferred maintenance list that was submitted today.

In the meantime, we are seeing the impact of reductions in the current year's budget. Our students have been affected by changes in the Oregon Opportunity Grant. Despite good work by the Oregon Community College Association and our Governmental Relations Director, Brett Rowlett, the Oregon Student Assistance Commission decided to do a flat reduction to all grants of $80. Since community college grants are less, obviously this was a bigger hit for our students. In addition, universities have more foundation capacity to assist students in the short run than we do. Community college students were disproportionately affected by the fact that new awards were cut off on December 1. Of the 2,697 students cut off, 2,295 were community college students. This is an obvious impact since our students are more likely to be laid-off workers that did not know they were going to come to school until later. I have asked our staff to let me know how much it would take to assist students with this reduction, but I am doubtful that we will be able to help.

Finally, the 1.2 percent reduction ordered by the governor will be taken out of our January payment. As indicated last month, we are tightening spending, scrutinizing vacancies, and minimizing capital outlay purchases. Also, we estimate about $400,000 in additional tuition revenue as a result of our enrollment increase. This will not quite offset the reduction, but it will certainly help. By doing the above, we can significantly avoid changing our program and services for this year.

There are a number of local efforts going on to focus on the local economy. I have a series of meetings set up with different groups to assure that Lane is part of those efforts.

We are partnering with ASLCC on Tuesday to open up the CML so that we can come together to view the historic inauguration. I hope that students and staff will attend.

January 21 is "Jam the Gym" night for Lane basketball games. I hope you can join us as we support our basketball teams playing Umpqua, one of our biggest rivals. Lane's womens' team will be defending their home game winning streak.