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Chancellor's Message |
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Case Study: Establishing Budget Transparency at the Coast Community College District |
Chancellor's Message
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Dear Coast District Faculty and Staff,
Greetings! Happy New Decade!! Do you remember Y2K? It hardly seems like a decade ago, yet ten percent of this century has already passed. We are a selective group of people who have such a great privilege to see the century turn and create the vision for the next hundred years.
Over a thousand years ago, a little boy asked his grandfather as he helped dig a hole for a seed. “Why are we planting this, Gong Gong (Grandfather, in Chinese)? There is nothing around here.” The white bearded man straightened up and said, “We are planting a giant banyan tree and it will grow to cover this entire area.”
“In how long” asked the little boy?
“A few hundred years. You won’t be able to enjoy this tree but I can picture this tree with thousands of people gathering under it for shade, to think, play, and to admire its grandeur."
He was right; I stood under this magnificent tree in one small town in China last month and admired its grandeur.
When we see our students this week, can we think of us planting the banyan tree? As we look at the rest of the century ahead, can we also think about planting banyan trees for the generations to come?
It may be too far out for any of us to imagine, especially when everything these days seems to be at warp speed. As beginning visionaries, how about we try to focus on the next decade? For the first time in history, we can use “Vision 2020” as we look into the Coast District’s future. It brings such great meaning for the clarity, sharpness, and focus of our vision at a distance of 10 years away.
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Here’s my attempt at Vision 2020:
• I see students are still flocking from all over Orange County and worldwide to us not because they fear there won’t be classes but because the Coast Colleges have a reputation for being the best in taking care of students, meeting their needs and helping them succeed.
• I see other institutions lining up to learn from Coast Colleges’ leading edge innovations and programs of exemplary quality and unique systems of delivery.
• I see Coast Colleges’ faculty and staff being revered and envied by their colleagues for their unified team spirit, being given abundant support and rewards for their work, having freedom and flexibility to think and act differently than the norm, and having a strong sense of pride for their outstanding achievements.
• I see people from around the world coming here to learn how to think better, work smarter, have more fun, and admire the grandeur of Coast Colleges.
I ask you to take a few moments to reflect on Vision 2020 and determine what it means to you. What is your Vision 2020 for yourself and your families? What is your Vision 2020 for your college and Coast Colleges as one family?
It has been said that where there is no vision, people perish.
I say where there is vision, people flourish.
I will invite you to visualize our future for this decade and let us not further weaken ourselves by nursing the wounds of the past. Strength and power are ours to hold if we allow ourselves to heal and change our way of life with renewed energy. Let us not incarcerate ourselves by the practices of the past decade(s). Freedom is ours, to imagine and create if we are willing to admit what had not worked; use fresh perspectives to redesign and look at things with a new lens.
Look for Vision 2020 gatherings coming soon to a banyan tree near you! Regular Chancellor Forums on your campus will be held and I plan to start them with a Vision 2020 theme.
I will continue my tradition of holding open hours on Tuesdays at noon for any of you who wish to come and just chat with me. Please call Nancy Sprague at x84601 to schedule in advance.
In addition, I am also setting up a web site that will allow you to submit ideas and feedback to me. I will send out detailed information on how to use the site once it is up and running. I truly want to hear from you!
Have a great semester with our students and don’t forget to plant your own banyan tree seed!
Sincerely,
Ding-Jo
Case Study: Establishing Budget Transparency at the Coast Community College District
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This article appeared in the national publication, Trustee Quarterly. This case study is provided as a tool to foster discussion of governance issues related to budget management.
By Jim Moreno, Board Clerk
The state of California continues to waver through an uncertain
budget crisis. This past winter, my concerns about our district’s
budget, and that of the California Community College system,
continued to grow. After spending more than 35 years as a public servant in the Los Angeles County government and having gone through many difficult budget cycles, I wanted to make certain that my board and organization were prepared. The Community College System has seen difficult fiscal events, but had never before faced the challenges brought forth by the current financial collapse. With the long-lasting recession, double-digit unemployment, loss of wealth in the stock market, high home foreclosure rates, and a long-term budget stalemate prevailing in the statehouse, it was imperative that our district change the way it approached its budget plan.
I strongly believe that transparency in our district, specifically related to budgeting, was necessary to get through this nearly impossible time in our history. I recommended that our chancellor establish a District-wide Budget Advisory Committee (DBAC). No such entity had existed in our district previously, and I felt that this new task force would provide needed input to our entire organization. With
California’s budget teetering on the brink of insolvency and tied to the passage of five ballot initiatives at the time, the uncertainty facing the community college budget made establishing this task force all
the more critical. In the spirit of shared governance, I requested that the DBAC be formed through the district’s Chancellor’s Cabinet, with constituencies of faculty, students, staff, collective bargaining units,
and management appointing its members.
After the state’s proposed ballot initiatives were rejected by California voters on May 19, the district received from the governor’s office a dire budget requiring cuts of approximately $10 million that same week. I requested that the chancellor convene the DBAC, and that its members present recommendations for proposed reductions to the district’s budget. The task force met in late May and in early June, and came up with a comprehensive list of proposals.
The board of trustees and the DBAC worked to support transparency and improve understanding of the district’s budget. Budgets at this level are complicated and require a great deal of technical knowledge, along with higher education experience, in order to be fully mastered. Many governing board members — and even administrators — did not have a complete understanding of the budget’s inner workings. As a result, the board established a new meeting format, a “study session.” Held in an informal roundtable setting, these gatherings allowed trustees, the administration, and constituency groups to discuss issues and collaborate with each other.
After the state ballot initiatives failed, our board held two study sessions solely related to budget issues in June, and another in August. The chancellor prepared detailed board presentations about the DBAC’s recommended reductions. Further, the study sessions allowed each constituency group to present its own proposal for budget reductions and to comment on other reduction plans being submitted. In the end, through the final recommendations of the DBAC, the board met the $10 million goal in reductions by implementing a hiring slowdown, reducing the district-wide marketing budget, terminating specified consultants, significantly cutting travel expenditures, and directing our three campuses and district office to reduce operating budgets by specific levels.
Our fiscal problems in California are far from over. The Coast Community College District still faces numerous challenges — most notably the governor’s proposal to permanently reduce our student
apportionment by approximately 27,000 seats. Yet our district now has an open, transparent process for addressing budget matters through its DBAC. This task force has proven to be an invaluable tool in promoting awareness and collaboration on the budget challenges we face. I encourage all community college boards to consider such options to promote transparency and good governance for their organizations.
