Independent Report: Invest in People for a Stronger Lane Community College

Posted on January 6, 2026 by LCCEA

LCC faculty colleagues,

Find below a new report, “LCC Review — Invest in People for a Stronger Lane Community College,” by independent researcher, Daniel Morris, Ph.D. Some of the key findings are listed below.

LCCEA will hold a press conference to release the report, and the Action Team invites faculty to participate in informational picketing in the NW Corner of the Center Building beginning at 4:30 on Wednesday, January 7 prior to the 6 p.m. Board of Ed meeting. RSVP here: bit.ly/4RSVPJan7

Key Findings

·      Lane Community College (LCC) is in better financial shape than it has been in years. Net position, a measure of the net worth of a non-profit college, increased from $24.2 million at the end of FY2023 to $100.9 million at the end of FY2024. As LCC’s fortunes improve, it is important to continue investing in instruction and student services and the faculty and classified professionals who provide it.

·      Like other community colleges, LCC saw steep declines in enrollment during the pandemic. LCC cut faculty and classified staff as a result, though management numbers did not change much through FY2025. However, for FY2026, management positions are budgeted to increase by nearly 10% from 72 to 79 positions. Now that enrollment is increasing again, budgets for faculty are going up. But spending on management is growing five times faster than spending on instruction. Compared to FY2024, budgeted FY2026 spending for faculty is $1.3 million (7%) higher, while spending on management will be $2 million (35%) higher.

·      By borrowing money to pay off its unfunded PERS liability, LCC reduced annual operating expenses by over $47 million in 2024. Freeing up millions each year gives LCC more flexibility to invest in programs and staff.

·      Unfortunately, LCC’s administration is presenting misleading budget projections based on bad assumptions, which they are using to justify unnecessary and harmful cuts to staff and programs. Besides being inaccurate, cutting courses will cost LCC revenue, not lead to savings. At a time when enrollment is increasing, LCC should keep investing in instruction, not cut it.

·      Faculty report heavy, uncompensated workloads. On a recent survey, 78% said they work more than their assigned and compensated FTE, with 38% working at least 50 hours per week and 19% working 60 hours or more each week. Nine out of ten report that in at least half the weeks each term they are working evenings and weekends outside of regularly assigned times. When courses are cancelled, part-time faculty often receive no compensation for the time they’ve already invested.

·      Though faculty pay has increased in recent years, many faculty still do not make enough to be financially independent. On a 2025 survey, 39.5% of part-time faculty who are not retired reported having relied on government assistance while working as faculty at LCC.

·      LCC is among the most affordable community colleges in Oregon, ranking 11th of 17 for total cost of attendance. Though LCC has the highest tuition & fees of any Oregon community college, considering all other costs like housing, transportation, and personal expenses, it is still more affordable to attend LCC than most other schools. Tuition and fees did just increase by 20% from the previous year. This increase appears to primarily stem from fee increases because tuition increased 3.1% for FY2026. LCC must do what it can to keep school affordable to stay accessible for students.

LCC Review-Invest In People for a Stronger Lane Community CollegeDownload
Posted in General | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Administration Still Proposes Cutting Investment in Faculty by $1 Million – Bargaining Update

Posted on January 2, 2026 by LCCEA

Happy New Year!

Over the break, your LCCEA Bargaining Team has analyzed in detail the Administration’s current proposal in bargaining. While the Administration did make some moves back to current contract language at the last bargaining session on December 16 (e.g., maintaining current insurance language, minor increase of lab TLC to 0.7 instead of 0.682), the overall Administration proposal still represents a substantial net reduction in LCC funding of faculty, amounting to more than a $1.0 Million decrease in investment in faculty through: 

  • Implementing underpaid, mandatory overloads for full-time faculty, removing class size limits, increasing workload in Writing by more than 22%
  • We estimate these changes result in reduction of 43% of classes available for part-time faculty to teach. This would mean mass job loss for part-time faculty.

LCCAdministrationProposalSummary12162025.png

Only two bargaining sessions remain on January 13 and January 20, both 10-4 in 2/214. All faculty are welcome. We are also currently scheduling mediation.

Call to Action: Now is the time to stand together in solidarity to show faculty will not accept these cuts! The Action Team will be holding informational picketing beginning at 4:30 on Wednesday, January 7 prior to the Board of Ed meeting. RSVP here. 
For more background on where things stand in bargaining, see this brief comparison chart or this full comparison with details.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Michael Marchman

Peggy Oberstaller

Russell Shitabata

Posted in General | Tagged | 1 Comment

Bargaining Update: On to mediation…

Posted on December 17, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC Faculty Colleagues –

We’d like to begin by thanking the many faculty who showed up to support the Bargaining Team today during winter break, as well as all of the faculty who have continued to attend bargaining meetings over the past nine months. 

After our big move at the last session in our supposal, we had been optimistic that the Administration would move in kind and show that they really do want to reach an agreement. Unfortunately, they did not. Instead, the College rejected the full supposal we presented on December 2nd. Then, they presented a number of counter offers representing very limited movement toward faculty interests. The most significant issue the College moved on was Article 33 — Insurance (see below), which seems to largely return to the current contract language. There was zero movement on salary or COLA except for a $35/hour CD rate. The College remains firm on a 1.8% COLA and no retro pay.

Regarding workload, the College continues to propose no clear limits on class size and would still require mandatory overloads for contracted faculty, resulting in job loss for part-time faculty. In addition, they propose increasing Writing faculty members’ annual workload by more than 22%, also resulting in mass layoffs of part-time faculty in Writing. For details on the College’s other proposals demonstrating minimal movement, please see attached.

In what felt like another PR stunt, the College continued to misrepresent our proposal on faculty office space, claiming that our language would cost $26 million in construction for a new building. We have repeatedly made it clear that the intent is to address the needs of a handful of faculty currently working in cubicles, which could easily be accommodated by currently vacant offices.

Your team, on the other hand, made several substantive proposals (see below) to show we are bargaining in good faith and working toward agreement. These include nondiscrimination (inclusive of immigration status) (Art. 7), privacy rights (Art. 16), initial salary schedule placement (Art. 27), pay for substitutes (Art. 27), lockdown safety (Art. 45), and public health safety (Art. 46). 

Given the significant distance between both parties and the lack of progress on the part of the Administration, we informed the College that we would be requesting mediation at the end of the 150-day bargaining period on December 19. In addition, we encouraged the College to add more bargaining dates in January so that we can continue making progress to reach an agreement while we wait for mediation. Lastly, we asked them to reconsider our supposal—a reasonable compromise—in advance of its deadline of December 19, 5PM.

Please join us for two more bargaining sessions in building 2, room 214.

  • Tues., Jan 13, 10am-4pm
  • Tues., Jan 20, 10am-4pm

We wish you a restful, restorative winter break because we need you ready for the fight that’s coming in 2026. It will be all hands on deck! 

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell
April Myler
Gerry Meenaghan
Michael Marchman
Peggy Oberstaller
Russell Shitabata

LCCEA Proposals

Administration Proposals

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Honor Oregon Local Budget Law — $25M at risk

Posted on December 2, 2025 by LCCEA

Below is the text of a memo sent to LCC Board of Education Members on Dec. 2, 2025, sent by LCCEA President Adrienne Mitchell, expressing grave concerns that the action item the Board has on their agenda for tomorrow (Dec 3), requiring a vote on $16.5M in budget cuts, is not compliant with Oregon Local Budget Law and will put LCC at dire risk of losing the ability to assess property taxes. 

Property taxes comprise one quarter of the general fund annual revenue at $25M. This would cause significant, possibly irrecoverable, damage to Lane Community College.

_____

December 2, 2025

Esteemed Board of Education Members,

I am writing to share grave concerns about the new action item that calls for the Board to approve a three year financial plan at tomorrow’s Board of Education meeting.

Approving such a plan would put the College seriously at risk of non-compliance with Oregon Local Budget Law. Please see attached legal memo from attorneys Luke Kuzava and Evianna Colvin that was provided to you on September 30, 2025 on this very same topic.

As noted on September 30, according to attorneys Kuzava and Colvin, 

“Given the circumstances, I want to be as clear as I can be on this point: the LCC Board of Education plainly has no legal authority to approve any proposed budget cuts before those proposed cuts are (1) written into a budget document by the College’s budget officer; (2) presented to the College’s Budget Committee in accordance with the legal requirements of ORS 294.426 (including all public notice and public participation requirements); (3) approved (potentially with revisions) by the budget committee pursuant to ORS 294.428, and (4) providing advance notice of a public “budget hearing” meeting as required by ORS 294.448, and (5) actually holding that “budget hearing” meeting in a manner that provides for public input as required by ORS 294.453.”

To be clear, subverting Oregon Local Budget Law is serious. 

According to Tedesco Law Group attorneys who have reviewed the new plan posted on BoardDocs for tomorrow, “The consequences of failing to comply with the Oregon Local Budget Law can be dire. ORS 294.338(1) provides that the College “may not expend money or certify to the assessor an ad valorem tax rate or estimated amount of ad valorem taxes to be imposed in any year unless” the College has complied with the Local Budget Law. One of the College’s largest sources of revenues come from property taxes. If the College fails to comply with the Local Budget Law, it may risk that significant source of revenue.”

Property taxes comprise more than $25 Million of LCC’s annual revenue.

Risking the loss of this level of funding would be dangerous for our institution and would likely be irrecoverable for Lane Community College.

There is no precedent for any type of similar plan or Board action outside of the official budget development and approval process with full participation of the Board and Budget Committee with public hearings as required by statute. Board Policy does not require any such action. 

And the premise on which the proposal is based is faulty. For background on the exaggerated projections built into LCC’s budget forecasts, watch this video. The Ending fund balance is already ~8% of the general fund. It is not necessary to cut more than $16.5M as noted in the three-year proposed plan. What is required for board policy is that – through the budget development process in the Winter and in compliance with Oregon Local Budget Law in the Spring – the ending fund balance be restored over three years. This will take only ~$2M over three years, and the “plan” is simply that the budget that is produced and approved through the official, legally compliant process in Winter and Spring, must ultimately result in revenues exceeding expenses by restoring less than $1M (i.e., approximately $800K) per year over three years. 

Furthermore, the “plan” before you is NOT a budget cutting plan. The “plan” adds massive expenses in the amount of more than $10.2 Million in “strategic investments” in order to justify cuts of more than $16.5 Million. 

Regardless, none of this is permitted under Oregon Local Budget Law outside the process that is legally required with the Board and community appointees on the Budget Committee in Spring.

Please honor your duty to the public and follow Oregon Public Budget Law. 

“The consequences of failing to comply with the Oregon Local Budget Law can be dire.”

And the institution will be dangerously at risk of losing one quarter of its annual funding in the amount of $25+ Million in annual property tax revenue if you vote or move forward with any budget decisions outside the legally-required process.

Sincerely,

Adrienne
—

Adrienne Mitchell, M.A., M.Ed.

Faculty Member, Academic Learning Skills Department

President, Lane Community College Education Association

Vice President, Oregon Education Association Community College Council

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Bargaining Update: The ball is in their court.

Posted on December 2, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC Faculty Colleagues –

Things are heating up! Today, in front of a packed room of union members, we showed we are serious about reaching an agreement. Maintaining a laser focus on faculty top priorities, we presented a full supposal – an entire, non-binding, “what-if” package – covering all core issues as an offer the College could accept as a whole or counter in kind. The supposal contains multiple examples of meaningful movement toward the College on our previous proposals. See all of LCCEA’s supposals here or scroll below for for details. 

In addition, we also presented the Administration with a cost analysis of their proposal, showing it would result in a 10% cut to College investment in part-time and full-time faculty, extracted through workload increases, moving insurance costs to faculty, and the loss of part-time jobs. We estimate 46% of all sections currently available to part-time faculty would be cut. 

image.png

Meanwhile, the Administration took their usual approach with several minor wording changes while rejecting numerous faculty proposals. They did also offer an update to their COLA proposal in Art. 26 moving from 1.3% to 1.8%, still with no retro pay, and restoring the status quo language in Art. 34 regarding inherent rights protecting part-time faculty. (See here and below for Administration’s propsals.)

We agreed to add two bargaining sessions on January 13 and 20. We proposed additional weekly dates, which the Administration declined. We made clear that we reserved the right to proceed to mediation. Mediation involves working with a neutral third party to help move negotiations forward, which appears to be necessary to help push the Administration to actually begin to negotiate in earnest. 

Call to Action

Tomorrow, December 3rd, is the last Board meeting before the end of the 150-day bargaining timeline. We can make a difference if we show up en masse. Stand together with your union colleagues at 5:20 outside the Center building for a candlelight vigil to restore democracy at the Board of Education, which is critical for the future of our community and college. Then, we’ll walk to the Board meeting for public comment at 6. Wear black!

Huge thanks to the many members who contributed to a great showing in the room today. Please join us in building 2, room 214.

  • Tues., Dec 16, 1-4 p.m.
  • Tues., Jan 13, 10am-4pm
  • Tues., Jan 20, 10am-4pm

It’s time for members to raise the pressure. Look for an email from the Action Team to do your part.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Michael Marchman

Peggy Oberstaller

Russell Shitabata

LCCEA Dec 2 Proposals and Summary

Administration Dec 2 Proposals

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment