Board Report - December, 2005

Report from Lane Community College President Mary Spilde
To the Lane Community College Board of Education
December 14, 2005

Here we are at the end of another fall term. Doesn’t it seem like we just started?

As always, I will start with a budget update. You will recall that last month you reviewed projections for FY ’07, and at that time I cautioned you that the projections would likely change as they always do. That was especially probable this year as the projections were done before the audit was completed. Well, the audit has been completed and we will discuss it later in the meeting. As you will see, we received a “clean” audit, and everything is as it should be in that regard. We are within board policy parameters as it relates to our ending fund balance. Of course, I wish we had more ending fund balance, but I suppose you could say that we used our resources in the service of learning to provide opportunities for students.

As we reviewed the final figures and took another look at the projections, the budget office realized that there was an anomaly in the personnel services area of the projections. Upon further investigation, it appears that the personnel services figures in the projections were significantly under-estimated. Largely, this is due to vacant positions and special appointments not showing up in one of the Banner files. This is a system problem that we are working on fixing. Last year we had almost twice as many special appointments as we have had in the past. The result of all of this is that, at this time, we believe that our budget deficit for ’07 will be significantly higher than the first estimate showed. As a result, I believe we will not be able to bridge to the ’08 budget but will need to immediately begin to review everything we do, and make some reductions for the ’07 budget. At this point, we are thinking about a hybrid model of recurring reductions and one-time savings, but I will bring more details on that in January.

In the meantime, we have been working with managers to assure that the position list the budget office is working with is as accurate as possible. We are developing an implementation plan for the budget process already approved by College Council and the board, and we will develop a new projection as soon as possible. In addition, we will have to reduce planned expenditures in the current year. After the first of the year, we will be communicating with the college community in writing and through meetings and will get this process moving.

Just to be clear, the problem here is with the projections. I don’t think we would have done anything differently in terms of filling the vacant positions; and, as you will hear, the audit is fine.

Obviously, I am very disappointed that we will have to go through a difficult budget process. In some ways, I suppose, we have been fortunate to have almost three years without having to do this, but that will not make this process any less difficult.

Actually, prior to this, I had been doing quite a bit of thinking about the long-term sustainability of the college given the lack of investment in higher education in this state and nationally. I came to the conclusion a few weeks ago and actually talked with Roger and Mike about the fact that we were going to have to think about how we do our work differently if we were going to be able to serve the community at the level we need to and live within our means. Of course, this does not mean that we will give up trying to increase the public investment in education, but while we are doing that we will need to take care of balancing the budget.

Later in the meeting you will be asked to approve the advisory committee membership. As you see we have a large number of people in the business community who give us their time so that we can assure that our professional technical programs are meeting the workforce needs of the district. We certainly appreciate their contribution.

I attended the Oregon Workforce Investment Board meeting in Salem last week. One of the policies proposed may have impact on the satellite one-stop centers in community colleges, such as the one we have here at Lane. I have sent information to all the Oregon presidents to make sure we have a united position on our response.

The fall League board meeting was held at the end of November. We interviewed finalists for the League CEO position. Dr. Gerardo de los Santos was selected. Gerardo has been at the League for six years, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and interim CEO. He attended a community college, received his doctorate from UT Austin Community College Leadership Program, and has been a teacher and administrator at a community college. He has published books and monographs and has good relationships with the League’s federal and foundation partners. I am looking forward to working with him in his new role.

The League Board had a very good idea exchange. One of the things we discussed was sustainability and as a result, Lane will be hosting a workshop for teams of staff from League colleges to discuss best practices in sustainability and see if there are projects on which we could collaborate. Assuming there are, we would ask the League staff’s assistance in applying for grant funds. The League representatives meeting was also good. There are eight new League representatives, which means that Tamara Pinkas, Lane’s representative, is now one of the senior representatives. Some time during the next few months, Tamara will come back and give you a report on the League.

At this time of the year, there are always a number of celebrations. One example is the Shining Star event hosted by the Foundation where donors and their scholars are paired up. As usual, it was a wonderful event. It is always great to see the gratitude of the recipients and the pride of the donors.

Following the usual business of the meeting, we will be adjourning to the new Health Clinic for a little holiday cheer and so that you can tour the facility. In the meantime, I would like to wish everyone a holiday season full of peace and joy.