Governor Responds to Budget Letter

As I shared with you in a previous blog post, the Community College League of California had urged trustees to write letters to legislators, asking them to pass a budget with $8 billion in new taxes.

My strong feeling is that the people most hurt by a statewide tax increase would be our Sierra College students, who rely on the part time employment market that would shrink as a result. Fewer students would be able to pay their way through school, resulting in either more student debt, or less opportunity to go to college.

So, I wrote a letter to our legislative leaders and the Governor, asking them to urgently pass a budget, but to oppose a massive statewide tax increase.

Now, I must say…I’m not Governor Schwarzenegger’s biggest fan. But I did appreciate his comment in the form letter I received today that “California cannot tax its way out of this budget deficit.”

Here’s the Governor’s letter…

And while I’m at it, I’d like to note that Scott Lay, the CEO of the Community College League of California, contacted me to point out that the League is not solely funded by the 72 community college districts, and that these alternate areas of funding exceed its lobbying budget.

I still think that it is inappropriate for the League to get involved in choosing sides on a budget in that manner, but my post might have been a little more balanced if I had also pointed out all of the other great things the League does to support the mission of community colleges.

Scott is a great guy…a little misguided on policy sometimes (I’m sure he thinks the same of me!), but a dedicated advocate of the value and quality of community college education.

Don’t miss the Kid’s Corner at the Nevada County Fair!

The Child Development Center at Sierra College Nevada County Campus is co-sponsoring the Kid’s Corner at the upcoming Nevada County Fair.

Here’s the press release from the college…

GRASS VALLEY — A must for anyone attending the Nevada County Fair August 6th through August 10th with a child under 6 is the “Kid’s Corner at the Fair”, open daily from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm, located to the left of the Gate 1 entrance just past the Railroad Museum.

This area at the fair provides a quiet respite spot for the children and now includes a nursing and diaper changing station and a variety of free, fun, and educational activities for the youngest fairgoers.  There will be ongoing music activities and story reading along with a book giveaway. 

There will also be the return of the simulated milking cow where youngsters can try their hand at milking.  Other activities include play with bubbles, play dough, water play, and book making.

Kid’s Corner is offered through a collaboration of partners between the Child Care Coordinating Council, First 5 Nevada County, Grass Valley School Readiness, Gold Country Association for the Education of Young Children, Nevada County Fair, Nevada County Superintendent of Schools, Placer Community Action Council—Head Start, Sierra College, and Sierra Nevada Children’s Services.

For more information, contact Mary Anne Kreshka or Sheila Brown at the Sierra College Child Development Center, (530) 274-5350 or (530) 274-5353.

Sierra College Board Retreat

Our board held its annual retreat this past Saturday, July 19, at the beautiful Lincoln Twelve Bridges Public Library, which is a joint partnership between the City of Lincoln, the Western Placer Unified School District, and Sierra College.

It was a busy day, and frankly, it seems to me that we would do well to hold these retreats two or three times a year. Fundamentally, my goal for this retreat was to see us establish an integrated and cohesive plan for resource development. We didn’t get all the way there — but we did get quite a bit accomplished, and I thought I’d try and fill you in.

First, we had a great presentation from Howard Rudd, Kris Mapes and Bill Halldin of the Sierra College Foundation. We agreed unanimously to request a staffing and infrastructure plan to allow the Foundation to generate $5 to $10 million in new funding every year within three years.

We also discussed the tremendous potential of acquiring federal government resources, focused particularly on economic and workforce development, firefighter training, green collar/solar job training, and increasing America’s competitiveness in science, technology, engineering and math.

We had a very extensive discussion about the draft of our strategic plan. The college is in the process of establishing four key goals, and specific strategies to accomplish them. The four goals are educational effectiveness, organizational effectiveness, resource development and focused access.

We spent a great deal of time on strategies to achieve educational effectiveness, and affirmed the direction we are headed to strategically focus our educational programs so that Sierra College has a more narrow and deep focus, rather than being a mile-wide and an inch-deep (my analogy: we won’t teach underwater basketweaving just because one of our instructors happens to know the skill — rather, we’ll strategically choose what programs to resource based on what our community needs).

We also revisited two key points of policy for our district, which were first established four years ago, when the college was in danger of running its fourth deficit in a row.

The first is our reserves policy, which calls for maintaining a reserve of 8% to 12% (if you dip down to 5%, you go on the state watch list…slightly lower than that, and the state will take the district over). The board unanimously reaffirmed the wisdom of this policy.

We then moved on to the balanced budget policy, directing staff to ensure that ongoing revenues exceed ongoing expenses, unless the Board of Trustees explicitly directs otherwise. Of course, there are most definitely times when you might need to use your reserves and spend more than that year’s revenue — but only in times of severe fiscal crisis. The board voted 6-1 to reaffirm our balanced budget policy, with Trustee Bill Martin expressing opposition and voting against it.

So we made quite a few very solid decisions this past Saturday. Making decisions at this level is all about creating clarity for our leadership team to go get things done. And clarity is very important, because without it, you waste resources pursuing courses of action that simply won’t work.

In August, I think we need to take the next step and tie together all of the individual pieces on resource development, and adopt a three year integrated resource development plan. We ought to be able to provide our leadership team with the clarity they need to know what options and strategies the board is behind for the three year time horizon that we can look ahead to.

If you have an idea or comment, I hope you’ll share those with me. And a special thank you goes to Jeannette and Jene’ in the President’s Office for putting together such a great retreat (and working all day Saturday, too!).

First Annual Sierra College Business Plan Competition

I’ve been very excited to play a minor supporting role in helping the startup of SCEL (the Sierra College Entrepreneurship Lab), which is a project of the Business Department at Sierra College, and the Associate Dean who leads it, Luis Sanchez.

Here’s the press release on this exciting competition — and if you’re a candidate, you’ve only got a few days left!

ROCKLIN, Calif. – The Sierra College Business Department, with the help of SierraPine, has raised the stakes in a competition among students for the best written and presented business plan with an opportunity to win up to a $1000 scholarship.

“SierraPine is proud to partner with Sierra College to help budding business men and women succeed,” commented Chris DeLellis, Manager of Compensation and Benefits, SierraPine “This kind of entrepreneurial spirit is what makes our community and the country thrive.”

This is the first annual Sierra College Business Plan Competition to take effect on campus and creating a business plan that addresses feasibility, originality, and clarity will be the basis for evaluation.

The competition is limited to currently-enrolled Sierra College students who are in good standing to submit a business plan and who are sponsored by a Sierra College business instructor. The plans will be reviewed and critiqued by a panel of business faculty, business advisors, and entrepreneurs who will narrow the competitors down to two final plans.

The top two business plans selected for an award will be presented with admission to the Sierra College Entrepreneurship Lab, which includes office space, Small Business Development Center counseling, and one-on-one mentoring for up to two years while the student prepares to launch his/her business.

A scholarship of $1000 for first place and $500 for second place will also be awarded to the top business plans. The business plans must be a minimum of eight double-spaced pages and the students with two highest-rated plans will present those plans orally to the review panel.

Submissions must be delivered to Luis P. Sanchez, Associate Dean of Business, by 5 p.m. on July 30, 2008. No late submissions will be considered.

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If you’re interested in submitting a business plan to SCEL, feel free to e-mail me at ak@aaronklein.com, and I’ll connect you with the right people!

Another Sierra College Success Story: Cameron Ray

Another in the series of Sierra College success stories…

ROCKLIN, CA – After leading the Sierra College Wolverines to their first-ever baseball state championship and finishing up his third year at Sierra College, Cameron Ray is setting his sights on the future and turning his baseball dreams into a reality.

Ray, 20, will be attending Sonoma State University in order to pursue a kinesiology degree as well as continue to play baseball. His dreams of playing professional baseball haven’t changed since he was five and his perseverance has paid off. Just this year, Ray was named the state championships Most Valuable Player and the Big 8 Conference Pitcher of the Year.

“I’ve always known that I wanted to go pro,” Ray said. “Sierra College really helped to accommodate my dreams and I knew it was the right choice for me.”

Ray also earned All-American honors and he gives credit to his athletic counselors for helping guide him down the right path.

“Somebody was always willing to help,” he said. “I couldn’t have gotten anything better then what I found at Sierra.”

Ray also found inspiration in Sierra College’s head baseball coach, Rob Willson.

“He really helped me out,” Ray said. “He is someone who fights for every player and I looked up to him. He became my hero and someone to remember.”

As he continues to further his baseball career, Ray would also like to attend Sacramento State University someday and attain a master’s degree. His experience at Sierra College has even made him dream of coaching college baseball one day.

“Sierra College meant a lot to me,” Ray said. “It has been unbelievably rewarding.”

For more information about Sierra Colleges’ award winning sports programs, log on to www.sierracollege.edu, and click on the Events & Athletics tab.