President returns; sets 1st Town Hall

Kat Mabry, Lorrie Reyes / Roundup

Following a three-month hiatus, Pierce College President Kathleen Burke-Kelley returned to campus this week to prepare for the first ever Town Hall on Thursday during which she plans to address proposed budget reductions threatening the 2011-2012 academic year.

The meeting will begin at 12:45 p.m. in the Great Hall and is scheduled to end at 2 p.m. Faculty, students and the community are welcome.

The proposed budget reductions facing the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) for the fiscal 2011-2012 year will also affect 112 other colleges statewide.

Burke-Kelley began her presidency at Pierce College Aug. 1, 2010 and left to serve Los Angeles Mission College on Feb. 1, six months later. She officially returned to campus Monday, May 2.

During her absence serving as Mission College interim president, Burke-Kelley sent out an email April 4 to faculty and staff, announcing her official return to Pierce College.

Included in the email was a three-page newsletter, written by Burke-Kelley.

The purpose of the newsletter was to discuss the breadth and depth of the expenditure reductions that must be considered to ensure that the college remains fiscally solvent, according to Burke-Kelley.

There are three possible scenarios, according to Burke-Kelley.

A five percent reduction would be the best-case scenario; the 15 percent reduction is what is referred to as an ‘All Cuts Budget,’ and the worst-case scenario is an 18 percent reduction.

“This presents the college with a number of very difficult decisions,” said Burke-Kelley in her newsletter.

It’s possible that 700 Full Time Equivalent Students (FTES) would need to be cut from each primary term, spring and fall, to achieve the best-case scenario. This would mean reducing each semester by 175 sections.

That is the best that can be hoped for.

“In addition to the cancellation of classes as a means of reducing expenditures, the college is reviewing the possibility of freezing all hiring to save salary and benefit costs,” said Burke-Kelley in her newsletter.

However, the governor is still exploring other options to avoid an all cuts budget scenario and intends to place new taxes on the November ballot through the initiative process, according to Burke-Kelley.

The LACCD’s District Budget Committee met April 6 to discuss the proposed tentative budget and how the cuts would impact the district in 2011-2012.

During the most recent Pierce College Council (PCC) meeting on campus, Kenneth Takeda, Pierce College vice president of Administrative Services discussed two (of the three) possible scenarios.

Takeda confirmed that there would be no winter session next Jan. and 50 class offerings will be cut.

Governor Jerry Brown’s January budget proposal recommended reducing support to the 112 community colleges statewide by $400 million. Increasing tuition from $26 to $36 per unit was intended to alleviate some of that reduction.

This would cut the original reduction of $400 million to $290 million system-wide.

“[The state] assumed that the $10 increase would generate an additional $110 million in new revenue state-wide,” said Takeda.

The LACCD will finish finalizing the tentative budget for the fiscal year by the end of May.

Gov. Brown will also release his revised budget, that includes the additional revenue paid through income and property taxes at the end of this month.

"With no clear pathway to raising additional revenues colleges statewide are bracing for the doomsday scenarios that involve closing the budget deficit through cuts only," according to the newsletter.