SC@Work: September 8, 2009 Board Meeting
As expected last night, the Sierra College Board of Trustees passed a budget reflecting the fiscal hurricane we are in: a $5.6 million deficit funded by the “rainy day reserve” fund built by the responsible budget policies of the last five fiscal years.
Ultimately, it was a budget that followed the two principles the board established back in early 2005. Those two principles were as follows:
- Balance the budget in good economic times.
- Maintain prudent reserves, and be cautious about reserves dropping below 8%.
Sidebar: For those who don’t remember, when I was first elected in November 2004, the college had run up three years of deficits in a row during relatively good economic times. We worked together as a team and brought the 2004-05 budget back into surplus by a mere $2,883 at the time — and built a total of $6 million in new reserves since then.
Back to comparing this budget against those principles. Clearly, these aren’t good economic times. And even after funding a $5.6 million deficit out of our reserves, our reserve levels will still be at 8.12%. So this budget fit our principles, and it received a yes vote from me, albeit on a cautionary note.
My concern with this budget, which I expressed strongly last night at the meeting, was that our institution is choosing to push most of the pain of these cuts to next year. As a result, we’ll have to get the budget back into balance next year, and closing a $5.6 million gap in a single year will be one of the most painful and challenging experiences Sierra College has ever experienced. (In fact, we’ll spend the rest of this fiscal year actually finding and preparing those cuts to begin on July 1, 2010.)
That being said, I understand the perspective of college staff. Here’s an example of why it would have been difficult to find even more cuts to implement for 2009-10.
Well after the fall semester had opened for registration, the state finalized its budget, which then was translated into a specific spending cut to Sierra College. That specific cut reduced funding by around 650 full time equivalent students, or between 1,200 and 1,800 actual students.
If the state had acted earlier, we could have opened fewer classes. So we were faced with a tough choice: use reserves to protect the seats of students who had already been promised classes, or cancel classes that students were already counting on to graduate, transfer or acquire new job skills.
Despite the fact that it would have been very challenging to find another $1 to $1.5 million in cuts this year, I think next year will be so painful, the college will look back and regret that it didn’t take more of the pain in this budget. But such was the decision.
On another note, as tough as it was to get a seat for this fall semester just starting, it will be even tougher in the coming spring semester. Our incredible staff is working very hard to shape customized solutions for students desperate for a particular class to graduate or transfer. They deserve our thanks for their hard work.
