Board Committee Meeting Notes
Audit and Finance Committee
Chancellor’s Conference Room
Meeting Date February 16, 2006
Present: Chair Bill Withrow, Trustee William B. Riley, Trustee Alona Clifton, Chancellor Elihu Harris, Vice Chancellor
Tom Smith, PFT President Michael Mills, and Recording Secretary Kashi Yamashita
Absent:
None
Chair Withrow convened the meeting at 5:12 p.m.
Action: Trustee Riley moved approval of the Agenda for today’s meeting (February 16, 2006) and the minutes of January
12, 2006 and December 15,2006, seconded by Trustee Clifton with full committee consensus.
The following chart shows action/assignments for District administration following review of various items by the
Committee:
Respondent Item
Requester/
Due Date
Smith
Withrow
Item No. – Enrollment management
Vice Chancellor Smith and Chancellor Harris gave brief presentations on enrollment Riley
management and data as follows:
Clifton
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Harris
Smith
Chancellor Harris and Vice Chancellor Smith are in the process of meeting with each of the
four colleges to examine enrollment figures and compare the current status of enrollment to
reach targeted base and growth between now and June 30, 2006, and explore what our
options are
Currently, we are 239 FTES from base which is a conservative figure (the colleges
anticipate reaching positive enrollment)
As an example, Laney College has 100 FTES positive in positive attendance, 7,500 for
intercession and Chinese orchestra – there is uncollected data not entered into the system
yet
Smith and Perdue will lay out options for the colleges such as borrowing from summer to
reach growth and fund intercessions
The colleges have been asked to do block scheduling for next year
We will maximize FTES by calculating hours more efficiently such as in 2002, the District
was able to realize 800 additional FTES by maximizing the hours counted for 1.5 hour
courses – we anticipate a natural increase by changing software to more accurately count
the hours to make FTES
In meeting with the College Presidents and Vice Presidents and holding discussions to
encourage increasing enrollment for spring, we have been able to realize a significant
reduction from 7% to 1% by utilizing recruitment strategies, targeting potential students
and polling non-students, changing curriculum, enhancing existing programs such as allied
health and Nursing programs at Merritt, COA’s 2 plus 2 educational development
program, Laney’s multimedia program and highlighting signature programs that are unique
and exemplary
Increasing classroom sized to accommodate 80-100 students and offering more compact
courses
Offering shorter-term courses to attract a wider market
Item No. – Facilities Bond Update
Tom Smith gave a brief report regarding the Proposition 39 facilities bond measure as follows:
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Bond measure for $390 million originally slated for the November 2006 ballot has been
fast tracked and scheduled for the June 2006 ballot, which will require 2/3 vote from the
Board to go on the ballot
A resolution is scheduled for the next Board meeting of February 28, 2006 including the
ballot language for projects scheduled for the colleges and district
This measure is different from Measure E in that there is a lot of legal compliance, a
Withrow
Riley
Clifton
Audit & Finance Committee
February 16, 2006
citizen’s oversight committee must be named and establishing who will serve on this
committee
 Smith will be meeting with Chick Adams, Bond Counsel, to review the legal language,
timeline for bond requirements
 Seeking $390 million keeps the District under the $25 per $100,000 assessed valuation (we
cannot go above that) the average is $19.15
 Discussions regarding polling and outreach to constituencies, putting together a portfolio of
campaign media and mailing materials, meeting with facilities committees to determine
campus needs such as flexible classrooms, distance learning, technology equipment, etc.
 Funds for the measure may not be used for salaries and operations and cannot be used for
anything not outlined in the bond language
 Once the Board approves the resolution and ballot language, the language will be filed with
the Registrar of Voters, a Friends of Peralta Committee will be established, and a plan for
the Chancellor, college presidents and vice presidents to meet with neighborhood and
business groups and political constituents
 Michael Mills, PFT President, asked if the PFT could have a look at the bond ballot
Smith
language before it goes to Board and Trustee Clifton asked for a list of the politicians
and community groups who supported Measure E so that she could piggyback the list
for the Peralta Foundation
Smith
Item No.5 – Trustee Withrow’s Report re State and Legislative Summit Visit
Trustee Withrow gave a brief presentation and recap of a team visit by him, and Trustee Clifton
and Gulassa held in Sacramento and provided hand-outs of some of the key issues of
discussion.
Thuy
Nguyen
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Thuy
Nguyen
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1st Page of the Community College ballot initiative which will strengthen community
colleges position throughout the state; lowering student fees to $20
Discussion of proposal by Gillespie, if elected governor, he will eliminate community
college fees as a loan that would be forgiven upon graduation from college
Regarding the Pell grant issue, there is no initiative to raise it and it is held flat for the
president’s taken out $1.5 billion
Title III was not clear
Reauthorization of the Education Act, there did not appear to be any opposition to it
There was a lot of bipartisan support for Workforce Reinvestment Act
Hope Credit does not seem to help community college students and appears to provide
assistance to upper class
President’s budget, $150 million into community based, zeroing out trail and upward
bound and talent for high school students
California Lobbyist provided talking points
Benchmark of 2002-03, 2005-06 equalization money, under new formula, we may get
equalization funds
Nunez bill, would need to pass in order for Peralta to get additional facilities monies
Proposition 98 guarantee is calculated annually based on amount received in the prior year
adjusted for K-12 enrollment growth and change in per capital personal income. Trustee
Withrow emphasized that if California community colleges received 10.93% statutory split,
Proposition 98’s share would fall short of meeting basic needs such as COLA plus growth.
Assembly Bill 58 by Nunez, which would enact the Kindergarten to university public
education Facilities Bond Act of 2006 if approved on the November 2006 ballot. Withrow
asked if there would be matching funds if this was enacted. Smith indicated to think of it
as the way Vista has been funded, two thirds to one third state and scheduled maintenance.
Staff of Pete Stark, Barbara Boxer, and Senator Feinstein urged that the “squeaky wheel
gets the grease.” Three major earmarks and projects that will be sent to Barbara Lee and
Pete Stark are ASTI, Nursing, and homeland security.
2
Clifton
Withrow
Riley
Clifton
Audit & Finance Committee
February 16, 2006
Financial Update
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Tom Smith gave a brief update on the financial status of the District:
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The Finance Department in process of posting two payroll journals which had to be
postponed because of account coding programming problems in PeopleSoft
Posting has been postponed until accounting coding has been corrected
Position control is a good check and balance to prevent overspending at the colleges…we
are in pretty good shape
Regarding the OPEB bonds, international equity fund has grown from $30 million to $31
million for the month of January
Trustee Clifton asked Chair Withrow to consider for an upcoming meeting to place on the
agenda the protocol for interfacing with the Inspector General both as a Committee and as a
Board.
Chair Withrow indicated he would have a discussion with General Counsel regarding which
items of discussion the Inspector General could agendize for closed session (personnel, legal,
or contract negotiation) and for open session.
The meeting adjourned 6:29 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for April 2006 (date to be determined due to Passover and
Spring Break) and to invite Lehman Brothers, financial investors to the April meeting.