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| For Immediate Release | Contact: Frances Squire |
| Aug. 21 , 2009 | Phone: (559) 934-2134 |
Ken Stoppenbrink, vice chancellor of business services
West Hills College meeting state budget challenge—employees accept furloughs
For almost two years, West Hills Community College District has been preparing for the budget crisis the state is currently facing. A hiring freeze on all but essential positions and a spending freeze have saved millions of dollars. Now, added to that, employees have agreed to furlough days to help keep the district budget in balance.
Administrators at the district agree to a two-day-a-month furlough and CSEA and the California Teachers Association faculty groups have agreed to one-day-a-month furloughs based on their annual contract length.
Details of the furloughs are still being planned.
West Hills College Coalinga President Willard Lewallen summed up the consensus of the district when he said, “We will do more with less by continuing to be more efficient with the resources we have.”
“Employees at West Hills College Lemoore are doing all we can to meet our student’s educational goals while at the same time reducing costs to stay within our budget projections,” said WHCL President Don Warkentin. “We believe this budget crisis is just a temporary setback to the great programs and offerings we have in the district. This experience will make us much better and stronger in the long run.”
Publicly explaining the district’s fiscal condition has fallen in great part to WHCCD Vice Chancellor of Business Services Ken Stoppenbrink, who made a presentation on the budget situation at a recent meeting of the WHCCD Board of Trustees.
“The board and the district have made a commitment to continuing to serve students and to maintaining programs and full time positions,” Stoppenbrink said, “and we’ve cut $2.8 million from last year’s budget and have reduced this year’s budget by $3.6 million for a total of $6.4 million.
“Over the past two years, we have served over 500 students for whom we did not receive state funding of about $4,500 per student for a total of over $2.2 million,” he added. “This year we have built the district’s budget on the state-allowed 5,200 students. We expect to serve over 6,000 full time equivalent students (FTES), which means a budget shortfall of potentially almost $6 million.”
The district operates on just over $60 million a year with about half coming from grants and restricted fund programs that serve special groups of students. Stoppenbrink said that during the past and current fiscal years (July 1-June 30), the district has cut over $6.3 million from the budget—or about 10 percent of the total budget. Most of those cuts have come from the $32 million general funds that are not restricted.
At its June meeting, the board approved a tentative budget that had a shortfall of about $ 1.7 million, according to Stoppenbrink. An early retirement program offered by the district is expected to have a net savings of $740,938, which would have left the district $1 million short of the five percent reserve mandated by the state.
The furloughs will save the district most of that $1 million shortfall, Stoppenbrink said. He told the board that a minimum of 20 positions would have needed to be cut from the district almost immediately if the furloughs weren’t accepted.
“Those cuts can be very disruptive for the district,” he said, “since employees who are laid off may have bumping rights.”
In addition, Chancellor Frank Gornick told the board that additional class sections were being cut to stay within the approved budget.
Fall semester classes started Monday at all West Hills’ locations. By Friday afternoon, enrollment stood at 6,143 students, up slightly from one year ago when 6,005 students were enrolled. Students have one more week to enroll for the full semester. Short term classes will be available starting in Oct.
To view Stoppenbrink’s “Closing the Budget Gap” presentation to the board, visit: http://westhillscollege.com/district/about/commentaries.asp.
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West Hills Community College District serves the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and is part of the California Community College System. Its two colleges, West Hills College Coalinga, which includes North District Center, Firebaugh, and West Hills College Lemoore, serve more than 7,000 students on campus and online each semester.