Redwoods Community College District
BUDGET PLANNING COMMITTEE (BPC)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
NOTES
PRESENT
MEETING
NOTES
STATE BUDGET
UPDATE
Utpal Goswami, Carla Spalding, Dan Calderwood, Steve Stratton,
Mary Grace Barrick, Susan Mindus, Bob Brown, Keith Snow-Flamer,
Shari King, Anita Janis, Jeff Marsee
State Budget Update
California Community League provided three budget-impact scenarios,
by district, based on proposed California State Budget assumptions (see
supporting document).
Summarization of the January 14, 2011 budget session in Sacramento,
in which Jeff participated:
Under governor’s proposed budget:
• The State of CA will take $400 million out of the community
college budget next year, which equals a 6.4% cut across the
board
• An increase in the per-unit credit cost from $26 to $36 will result
in approximately a 1.9% revenue growth increase, and which
equals just under $600,000 for CR
• A result of the 6.4% reduction means either growth with fewer
dollars, or decrease both services and classes, which will lead to
a decline in enrollment. To receive growth money requires an
increased base; growth money may be out of reach for CR. The
difficulty lies in charging more, providing less
• There will be an attempt to shift the 1.9% growth (if the tuition
increase to $36 occurs) to offset the 6.4% cut, which brings the
actual cut down to 4%. For CR this means a $1.3 to $1.4 million
cut next year even if mitigated with tuition increase
• The legislature is moving to redesign what will be funded from
base appropriations and the common theme is community
colleges are expected to slim down
o Strong discussions regarding the issues of retention
o Discussion in changing the way community colleges are
funded, i.e. moving census to end of semester
• The state is also proposing to cut $9 billion in other services
• To help bring the budget into balance, the public will be asked to
extend the temporary tax initiative for 5 additional years, in June
What this means to CR:
• We need to focus on alternative sources of revenue
• While we think the tuition increase is substantial, CR is not close
to national averages. For example, Oregon community colleges
charge $70-plus per credit
• Three budget impact scenarios for CR are shown in the handout
from the California Community College League:
•
•
•
•
o First and best case scenario is the assumption that the
June tax package is approved, resulting in only a $1.4
million cut next year
o Second scenario, if the tax package fails, the result would
be an estimated $2.4 million budget cut
o Third and worst, if the June package fails and Prop 98 is
suspended, it gets really bad
The BPC will become cornerstone as to how we look as an
institution. How we choose to allocate resources is a good
measure of how we define our instructional core
Choices we need to look at:
o Downsize, reduce number of sections
o Look at critical services, determine what we can and
can’t provide to students, faculty, staff
o Recognize some needs will be curtailed or dropped
o Preserve the Eureka main campus or anchor programs at
remote sites and use premise as cornerstone
What combination of scenarios to move forward, what
they will look like and how manage. How they
correspond to what we think the state will do with
funding
o Fundamental realignment of what is important
Dan Calderwood encouraged committee members to invite
colleagues to attend these meetings.
Friday, January 21 will be a kick-off event to engage in self
study those not involved in committees. People can contribute
in other ways.
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 26, at 3:30 p.m.
in the Lakeview Room.
ADJOURNED
The meeting was adjourned at 11a.m.
SUBMITTED
cp