Good morning, dearest colleagues —

Happy New Year!

During this busy week of the term as we work to serve students, I am writing to let you know that the Board of Ed will be considering a motion tonight to approve the Administration’s plan to cut $8 Million from budgeted expenses over the next three years while also adding $4.5 Million in new expenses over three years. The cuts are unspecified. Additional details about what the Administration plans for new expenses can be found in their somewhat detailed plan presented to the Board in December, which also includes creation of new, unspecified programs. 

The Board formed a subcommittee, which met three times since last Friday, and came up with a recommended motion yesterday (on pages 3-4 of this file posted on BoardDocs) to approve the Administration’s plan with minor qualifying language. Depending on what the Board votes on tonight, they could be taking action that is: (a) inconsistent with their own policies, which would be another problem for LCC’s accreditation (See attached memo I sent to the Board on Jan 2); (b) inconsistent with Oregon Local Budget Law (see attached legal memo); and (c) based on erroneous historical staffing and salary data presented to the Board, which the Administration has acknowledged is inaccurate and promised for two months to correct but has been too busy to do so, as well as unrealistic modeling and future forecasts (See this video that I provided to the Board in December). 

All of this takes place against the backdrop of LCC’s required corrective plan with Oregon’s Secretary of State for “significant deficiencies” in accounting practices, one or more pending complaints with the accreditors, not to mention two recent unfair labor practice complaints within the last two months, among other issues affecting our community’s college.

If you have not already done so, I hope you will take the time to review Daniel Morris’ independent research report on the actual state of finances at LCC based on the official audit statements and other publicly available sources. You may also wish to participate in the informational picketing that the Action Team is coordinating beginning at 4:30 today and stay for the Board meeting at 6 when there will be the opportunity to provide public comment.

Standing together is essential to help get our beloved LCC back on course.

With appreciation for all you do and in solidarity,

Adrienne