Budget Updates


Pursuant to Section 58301 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, the Board of Trustees shall hold a public hearing on the final budget on September 15, 2010 at 6:30pm, in the Board of Trustees hearing room located at 1370 Adams Avenue, Costa Mesa, California.

Latest Information from Chancellor Dr. Ding-Jo H. Currie

Budget Update #10

Greetings! I hope this message finds you in good health, great spirits, and in the middle of a wonderful, fun-filled summer spent enjoying your friends, your loved ones, and the warm weather.

Today, I want to provide some quick “summer updates” to you regarding the District.

There are many curves in the road ahead-and even some barricades-caused by the economic downturn. So, we need to continue to make adjustments, anticipate shifts, and remain flexible. Your willingness to extend and adapt to necessary changes has helped our District tremendously and will continue to do so. Most importantly, your willingness to sacrifice in order to protect students is commendable and shows true Coast District spirit.

With our legislators having just returned from summer recess last Monday, you can take a deep breath and relax…I promise there’s no NEW bad news in this message! Read on with comfort.

New leaders join Coast District

Dr. Lori Adrian, the new President of Coastline and Deborah Hirsh, the new Vice Chancellor of Human Resources joined the Coast District team in July. 
AdrianFinalPhoto
Dr. Adrian has more than 20 years of experience in the California community college system and has extensive experience working in large multi-college districts such as San Mateo County and San Diego.  She has been a strong advocate for students locally and statewide and was most recently at Skyline College where she served as Vice President of Student Services.  From the comments received both from Dr. Adrian and our Coastliners, I can see she feels right at home already. 

 

 

Hirsh
It was with less-than-perfect timing that we welcomed our new Vice Chancellor of Human Resources-just as the District was implementing an $8.8 million staff reduction. However, Ms. Hirsh didn’t even blink as she rolled up her sleeves and began tackling all of the issues that come with both a budget and a people deficit. Deborah Hirsh comes to us with the knowledge and experience gained from 26 years in the Navy-a decorated career. In addition, she has served as Director of Human Resources in SFUSD, LAUSD, and most recently, as the Associate Vice Chancellor of Human Resources for the LACCD. We are lucky to have her.

When you get a chance, please take a moment to meet and welcome both Dr. Adrian and Ms. Hirsh to our family!

Farewells to our long-time colleagues - Cheers to their new life!

The month of June was filled with bittersweet celebrations as we wished some of our favorite colleagues “farewell.”  At these events, retirees-to-be were thanked, roasted, and ridden with guilt for leaving.  Most of all, they were cheered as they start their new life.

In addition to retirees, some beloved Coast District employees were simply switching bosses, like Kevin McElroy (Coastline VP of Administrative Services) who traded SoCal for NorCal to start his new job as Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services at Foothill-De Anza Community College District.  We also said farewell to Vangie Meneses (Coastline VP of Student Services), who is embarking on a new journey at Fremont College in Cerritos. 

Indeed, life is filled with changes and many people will walk our “Coast” on our journey, and theirs. To all those who recently said “goodbye,” we shall treasure the times we shared as colleagues and look forward to continuing those relationships through friendship. Thanks for the memories and our very best wishes to you in your new adventures!

State and Coast Budget Update

No progress. That pretty much sums up the state budget. Next topic!
All joking aside, the Legislative Budget Conference Committee is still meeting, we are not seeing any real outcomes.

As you may be well aware, the state budget is late and may be delayed till September or even later. My June budget message reported that Coast District has an approved tentative budget and is currently busy with year-end closing and preparing for our final budget adoption in September.

Our budget will be based upon the Governor’s January budget proposal with negative Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA).

While Districts throughout California took a variety of measures in absorbing expenditure increases and state allocation reductions, I am still proud of the fact that we protected full-time jobs, salaries, and benefits for our regular employees without furloughs, layoffs, or salary and benefit rollbacks this year.

In looking at the world around us, we here at the Coast District have much to be thankful for. It reminds me of a quote I shared recently with the District Budget Advisory Committee, “If you want to be rich, just count the things money can’t buy in our lives.”

Prioritizing Personnel, Services, and Class Offerings

Due to the randomness of retirements (occurring disproportionally more at GWC and much less at OCC), we have been working very hard and fast to identify the critical positions in management, faculty, and classified staff so we can prepare and open fall semester for students without a major interruption in services.

While we thought there may be a lot more transfers between colleges, budget constraints do not allow such personnel movement. Therefore, while we are still reviewing the personnel needs at each of the campuses and our District site, there will be minimal transfers taking place in order for each college and district site to balance our individual budgets. 

We anticipate the reorganization and realignments to continue as a dynamic and organic process in managing our programs, services, and operations under the current extreme conditions. When you see positions being filled, please know that they are being filled with either one-time dollars (as a temporary stop-gap measure), or by sacrificing funding in other areas because they are critical positions. 

Though there was no new funding identified for FT faculty hiring, the District has still committed to hire six full-time faculty members so that programs will not be in jeopardy for licensing and/or legal requirements in areas like nursing or medical assisting. Other areas, like Special Programs which serves students with disabilities, also have such similar legal requirements for supervision and staffing.

To fill the void caused by several departures, managers are taking on additional responsibilities as well.  Critical positions, such as the Vice President of Student Services, are being filled to cover additional depth and breadth of responsibilities to ensure students are properly supported and served. Classified positions are also being reviewed to allow for even distribution of work and for office coverage.

For the first time ever in the history of our District, we must prioritize our human resource needs against a tremendously strapped budget and a same-time need for services and class offerings, and I continue to ask for your understanding as we move through this process.  At times, I’m sure it may feel chaotic, ambiguous, moving too slow or too fast, but I assure you that we do consider financial, humanistic, contractual, and educational implications for each of our decisions. In the meantime, our goal is still to maintain an open process. If there is ever a time when management is put to test for managing our operations with additional responsibilities and reduced resources, it’s now. I have the confidence that our leadership team will prevail, but not without your help and your good suggestions, your understanding when mistakes or glitches happen, and your support for each other. 

Coast District met 50% Law Mandate for 2009/2010

The “50% Law” is a complex and historical formula, which mandates that 50% of all unrestricted general fund expenditures are spent in the classroom for things like faculty, instructional aides, and lab assistants. Details describe that instructional equipment, librarians, reassigned-time, department chairs, counselors, etc. are not included in the instructional category.

You may hear that a number of Districts are anticipating not being able to meet this law due to reductions in funding, including categorical funding. However, the Coast District has worked very hard to preserve this ratio and ensure that 50% of our expenditures are still in our classrooms by offering classes beyond our state’s reimbursements, putting breaks on purchase orders, and making reductions in non-classroom expenditures during the spring semester so we can comply with this law.  I am pleased to announce that-through the diligence of our management team, staff in the campus fiscal offices, and CM’s leadership-we are one of the first Districts to report that we have met the 50% Law (50.53%) in spite of all of the budgetary obstacles last year.

Waitlist Pilot

Due to the overwhelming demands for classes, students have asked the colleges and the district to implement a consistent, fair, organized, and equitable system to register for closed classes. With the blessing of our Academic Senates, we are piloting a test run this fall using the existing waitlist function of the Banner program. Faculty, though not required, you are encouraged to use the waitlist when giving out additional seats to students. In terms of enrollment management, the waitlist has already given us more data than before regarding where the demands are for additional class offerings. When the fall registration cycle is complete, we will evaluate this system and gather input from all users including administrators, Admission and Records staff, students, counselors, and especially faculty to improve upon the process in the future. 

Anticipation

Just about this time every year, I become antsy with anticipation for the fall to come when I can happily see students and faculty returning to our campuses. Somehow, my anticipation is with a greater intensity this year in the midst of changes. In this same thought, I reflect on one of the great literary masters, Dr. Samuel Johnson’s words, “Such is the state of life that none are happy but by the anticipation of change.  The change itself is nothing; when we have made it the next wish is to change again.” 

I look forward to spending 2010-2011 with all of you! 

Archived Messages from Chancellor Dr. Ding-Jo H. Currie

District Budget Advisory Committee Meeting Dates

  • October 14, 2010, 3:00-5:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • August 24, 2010, 9:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • July 20, 2010, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon, District Board Room
  • May 14, 2010, 3:00-5:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • April 9, 2010, 3:00-5:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • February 19, 2010, 3:00-5:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • January 22, 2010, 3:00-5:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • December 14, 2009, 3:00-5:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • November 23, 2009, 3:00-5:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • October 30, 2009, 1:00-3:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • October 16, 2009, 1:00-3:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • August 11, 2009, 1:00-3:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • July 17, 2009, 1:00-3:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • June 19, 2009, 1:00-4:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • June 2, 2009, 2:00-4:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • May 21, 2009, 2:00-4:00 p.m., District Board Room
  • March 5, 2009, 2:00-4:00 p.m., District Board Room

Minutes from the District Budget Advisory Committee Meetings

Budget Updates from the State Chancellor's Office

Budget Updates from the Community College League of California