Lane Community College Education Association

LCC Faculty Colleagues,

I’m writing with more updates on bargaining, college budget, and statewide legislative issues.

Bargaining:

If you have not done so, please read the bargaining update provided by your LCCEA Bargaining Team last week. The LCCEA presented extensive data including:

• the erosion of faculty salaries,
• the inadequate compensation of part-time faculty causing some to be eligible for food stamps even while working half-time
• the significant recent decrease in contracted faculty positions.

The LCCEA proposal would make substantial strides toward pay equity for part-time faculty as well as establish a threshold for contracted faculty positions.

The College presented an offer of $0 / 0% salary schedule increase (COLA) and zero steps for all faculty (a step “freeze”).

This is the worst offer the college has provided to the faculty in the forty-four year history of the LCCEA.

Please keep your eyes peeled for additional information from the Action Team, LCCEA Organizer John Groves, and your department rep(s) as we work toward a reasonable agreement with the college. In the meantime, please share your stories about how working part-time has impacted you or your students and/or how not filling vacant full-time positions has impacted you, your program, or your department at: https://forms.gle/Ey1io5hC197ENZDV8

LCC Budget:

While there was a significant projected deficit for next year, there is now a balanced budget proposal ready for Board of Education and Budget Committee approval. The Board voted last Thursday to outsource the campus bookstore and on April 1 to increase tuition, after an earlier vote to outsource Food Services as well. These changes will undoubtedly impact the campus community and especially students and staff. On a positive note, college administrators have made a commitment to involve faculty leaders in the evaluation of any proposed contract with Barnes and Noble in order to ensure that such a contract protects academic freedom as well as free, unfettered use of OERs.

Despite the substantial deficit that had been projected for next year, there are a number of factors impacting the budget positively.  State funding is up slightly; tuition will be generate more revenue, and the projected deficit included $6.4 million in vacant positions as well as other expenses that had been carried over (e.g major maintenance funding) at levels exceeding regular allocations. In addition, enrollment has improved and is also much better relative to other mid-sized / large community colleges in the state, which will positively affect Lane’s percentage of the state allocation. All these factors combined portend a budget that is objectively better than many recent years.

The key to fiscal sustainability at LCC depends not only on state funding but also on reforming college budgeting practices and ensuring that allocations and expenditures align with the mission and the primary purpose of LCC as an institution of higher education.

Better choices are possible.

For instance, some pressure on the college budget stems from the college-owned Titan Court apartment building, which has expenses that exceed revenues by approximately $635K per year. That $635K net-loss is being paid out of the general fund this year. This reduces available funds for essential programs and student services. If the College continues with current practice by keeping the apartment complex, the annual payments will continue through 2036 in order to pay off the debt, which totals approximately $16M.

In addition, based on information provided to LCCEA, LCCCEF, and Management Steering Committee (MSC), it appears the College is now planning to fill 11 vacant or new manager positions, bringing the total up to 72 for next year. At the same time 13 full-time faculty positions are slated to be filled for a total of approximately 202, which will still result in a decrease in contracted positions for next year, continuing the recent practice of replacing contracted faculty vacancies by hiring new part-time members paid far less to teach the same classes.

The LCCEA has called for a college-wide staffing analysis of all employee groups from all funds in order to begin the process of aligning expenditures to the mission — to instruction and student services. Such an analysis and alignment of budget allocations with needs would preclude across-the-board cuts, which disparately impact some departments, especially instructional departments with growing enrollment. Share your voice in advocating for adding sections whenever classes are full and additional sections should be added — the college generally sets aside funding for sections based on demand, and your instructional deans can play an important role in accessing such funds. You will find here a list of additional strategies for fiscal sustainability that I presented to the Board of Education last week: Long-termStrategiesforSustainableBudget

Legislative and Statewide issues:

Community College Funding

While better choices are possible for the LCC budget, it is also true that additional funding is necessary from the state. When adjusted for inflation, state allocations for community colleges have remained stagnant and have placed additional burden on students to cover an increasing percentage of their educational costs.

There has been a significant push in advocacy for community college funding over the past two weeks, both locally and statewide. LCCEA has engaged Career Technical (CT) faculty in a letter-writing campaign to the governor and state legislators with a focus on increasing funding for the CCSF as well as advocacy for the $70M proposed for additional funding to expand CT programs at community colleges. Thank you to the many faculty who have participated, and a special thank you to Sharon Hagan and Christina Howard, who have shared their letters publicly. You can access them on the LCCEA website at: https://lccea.org/  In addition, LCCEA coordinated a statewide effort expanding the letter writing campaign to include community colleges throughout the state.

Read it in the Register Guard Today!
Finally, I had the great pleasure of collaborating with LCC’s student body President, Nick Keough, in writing an Op-Ed to advocate for CC funding — it was published in today’s Register-Guard, and you will find it at: https://www.registerguard.com/opinion/20190416/keough-and-mitchell-vital-community-colleges-forced-to-scale-back

PERS

You have likely read about Governor Brown’s proposed changes to PERS. She proposed that employees who are currently working and part of Tier 1 or 2 would have to dedicate 3% of earnings (after the first $20K) to a fund to offset the unfunded PERS balance for current retirees. This 3% would be diverted from individual retirement accounts to a separate fund for 14 years or until the time when the PERS system becomes fully funded. For OPSRP members (AKA Tier 3), the percentage diverted from individual accounts would be 1.5%. This proposal would certainly affect K-12. However, it is unclear at this time whether community college employees would be impacted. The governor made reference to a separate fund / similar system for public higher ed employees, but there are no details available as this would likely depend on any resulting legislation. Meanwhile, other legislators including Senate President Courtney and House Speaker Kotek have announced they are working on their own proposal.

The OEA has responded quickly and strongly to this potential change. In addition, NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia has spoken with the governor to advocate on behalf of Oregon educators, asking if the governor wishes to be the only one in the nation to propose reducing teacher compensation at a time when public educators nationwide are increasingly engaged in campaigns to increase direly needed funding for education.

You may wish to contact the governor to express support for community college funding or to share your opinion on proposed PERS reforms at: https://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/share-your-opinion.aspx

Part-time faculty insurance

Senate Bill 852, which would provide insurance to part-time faculty statewide through OEBB and would result in a net increase to the LCC budget of approximately $1 – $1.4M, has been moved by the Senate to the Ways and Means Committee with a “do pass” recommendation. OEA, in coalition with AFT-O, AAUP, and other higher education alliance members, has strongly advocated for this bill an will continue this important effort.

Community College Member Interests

OEA is currently conducting a statewide survey of community college members. Your input is important. In addition, LCCEA welcomes any feedback you may have regarding communications you receive from OEA.

Board of Education Endorsement

A reminder — there are several positions on the Board of Education up for election in May. LCCEA endorses Lisa Fragala, who has been advocating consistently for community college funding at the state level and who continues to ask critical questions on the Board to ensure that the college budget is developed on a rational basis. All supporters are invited to a canvassing event this Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at 224 E. 11th Ave.

Save the Date: Statewide Educator Day of Action May 8

Save the date for the statewide educator day of action! This will be an opportunity to publicly demonstrate the need for increased funding from the state.

Thank you for all that you do every day as faculty members at Lane.

My best,

Adrienne

See News and Updates for a complete update on contract bargaining.

Sharon Hagan, Coordinator of the Dental Hygiene Program at Lane, and Christina Howard, Coordinator of Physical Therapist Assistant Program at Lane, wrote letters this week to their representatives in Salem asking for their support of Health Professions program education. Read their letters below:

Sharon Hagan Letter for Support of Dental Hygiene Education

Christina Howard Letter for Support of Physical Therapist Assistant Education 

LCC Faculty Colleagues,

I hope the first week of the term is going well for you. I’m writing with a brief update regarding the college budget and Monday’s Board of Education Special meeting.

Budget Update

On Friday of finals week, the College Council held a special meeting to consider the Budget Development Subcommittee’s budget proposal. The Council approved a consensus-based, balanced budget incorporating, in large part, the recommendations of the Budget Development Subcommittee. The proposal included a $4.50 per credit tuition increase as well as a number of other budget reduction measures, all of which would avoid involuntary layoffs or program eliminations. In addition to tuition, the budget incorporates state funding at the level proposed by the Ways and Means Co-Chairs ($590M), which amounts to an approximate $1.6M increase over two years for LCC, along with a modest increase in anticipated property tax revenue. Additional measures to balance the budget include eliminating last year’s increase to major maintenance funding, a reduction in Materials and Services budgets, particularly travel, as well as some savings from budgeted vacancies.

Administration Budget Proposal

The Administration presented a budget to the Board of Education that aligns with the College Council proposal with one notable exception. (See https://www.lanecc.edu/sites/default/files/budget/4.1.19_boe_materials_v2.pdf ) The Administration has requested that the Board of Education consider outsourcing the bookstore at their regular April 11 meeting. (The Board had voted not to outsource in March, but did so without receiving a budget update.) In addition, the Administration has recommended a review and restructure of the Health Clinic model but not a closure of the clinic.

Board of Education Special Meeting, Monday, April 1

The primary agenda item for Monday’s Board of Education Special meeting was tuition. In previous meetings, Board members had pressed the Administration to clearly and specifically identify what the impacts would be without a tuition increase. Both President Hamilton and Vice President Jarrell clearly and eloquently articulated the importance of maintaining focus on the college mission and our primary function as an institution of higher education, noting that instruction and critical student services are the very last place that should be considered for budget reductions. However, due to the questions raised in previous meetings about specific impacts that might result without sufficient revenue, the Administration’s presentation included notes about the types of programs that would be impacted if there were not sufficient revenue generated by tuition or other means to cover regular, continued operating expenses.

In a meeting with Association representatives yesterday, the administration made clear that they are not currently proposing or planning to reduce the programs that they provided as examples to the Board on Monday. These programs include: Nursing, Dental Hygiene, Dental Assisting, Flight Technology, Culinary Arts and Hospitality, Medical Assisting, Welding, and Drafting.

Tuition

While a $4.50 per credit is significant, it represents a 4% increase. This is roughly the increase that had been tied to a $647M allocation for community colleges in the governor’s investment budget. Thus, because the expected state allocation is only $590M, the tuition increase is substantially less than what would be needed to bridge the funding gap. It mitigates only 11% of the projected deficit at Lane and is substantially less than the 5-10% increases that other community colleges are considering adopting for next year.

In addition, Vice President Paul Jarrell presented a Tuition Recommendation document to the Board: See BoE Tuition 4.1.19.  The document includes a summary of the cost of attendance for independent, full-time students. While tuition continues to increase, the largest expenses for students, generally, are housing. As you may be aware, the OEA has been active in legislative efforts to ameliorate escalating housing costs, which impact many of our members as well as students and their families.

The Board ultimately voted 6-1 to approve the proposed $4.50/ credit tuition increase.

Next Steps

The Board of Education is scheduled to meet next Thursday to consider the bookstore and the projected budget deficit, among other agenda items. Regular Board and Budget Committee meetings will continue in May until the final budget is officially adopted in June.

Job Security

While no programs are currently proposed for elimination, the budget cycle does often raise questions about job security for faculty — both part-time and full-time. If you are a part-time faculty, the Association recommends that you consider seeking assignments in more than one department, discipline, or accrual family, if qualified. If you are a contracted faculty member, the Association recommends that you seek certification for additional courses or positions and verify that all such courses are listed on the official RIF lists that are printed every October. If nothing else, these measures may provide peace of mind during the annual budget cycle.

Volunteer Interest

Many hands make light work! As you likely know the LCCEA is almost entirely a volunteer organization. There are many ways to participate and contribute to the the Association and for the benefit of all faculty, our college community, and state… even if for one hour per year. If you wish to volunteer at some time now or in the future, please take a couple of minutes to fill out the interest survey at: https://forms.gle/7SvEp48qnKByrhfW9 Thank you to part-time faculty member, John Groves, for developing the survey and serving as an LCCEA organizer.

Regards,

Adrienne

Dear Colleagues,
I’m writing with a brief update regarding the college budget and Board of Education meetings, especially in light of the Eugene Weekly article published today regarding the Board’s regular meeting last week, which is the impetus for this email.

College Budget and Deficit
As you are likely aware, there is a projected budget deficit for next year. The projected deficit increased from approximately $6.8 million to approximately $8.5 million last week due to updated projections and estimates of the percentage allocation that Lane will receive from the state CCSF (Community College Support Fund). These figures represent the projected deficit from the college general fund budget (Funds I and IX) of approximately $90 million and from a total college budget (all funds) of approximately $209 million. There are a large number of factors that will ultimately impact the budget, including the allocation by the state legislature for the next biennium (beginning July 1 of this year).

On a positive note, the state Ways and Means Co-Chairs released a budget that would increase funding for community colleges from what was proposed in the governor’s base budget of $543 million to $590 million, also an increase over the $570 million allocation for this biennium. $590 million is not sufficient, but it is the figure already in use in the college budget projections. OEA and OCCA, for example, have jointly asked for $787 million ($646 million + $70 million for expanding CTE programs + $70 million for additional student support services).

The College Council Budget Development Subcommittee has continued to meet collaboratively every week in order to develop a balanced budget proposal on track with its goal of presenting a balanced proposal at the regular April 11 Board meeting.

Board of Education Decisions and Process Last Week
The usual timeline provides that the Board of Education makes decisions about tuition increases in November or December for the academic year that begins the subsequent summer. This year the Board did not make a decision and requested that the College Council Budget Development Subcommittee (BDS) develop a proposal. Committee members presented a unanimous tuition proposal at the February meeting, and the Administration requested that the Board make a decision at the March meeting.

The March meeting, last Thursday, lasted until 11 p.m. Board members considered possible tuition increases but made no decision. They voted to outsource campus food services and voted not to outsource the campus bookstore. The meeting process diverged significantly from regular practice in that the Board members voted to consider these three items without following their own regular agenda and without allowing college administrators to present their budget update. The Board members asked questions about the budget but, because of the Board decision to change the agenda, they did not receive a presentation about the 19-page budget update prepared by the administration for the meeting.

In addition, the Board has scheduled a special meeting set for Monday, April 1 at 4 p.m. in CML 104 in order to provide time for public comment, especially from students, on a tuition increase. It is unclear what else will be on the agenda, if the Board will make any decisions on that date on tuition or any other items, or if presentations by the administration or Budget Development Subcommittee will be included on the agenda.

It is important to note that at this time, there are no proposed program or service cuts impacting faculty under consideration. The administration has not proposed to cut any program or service that includes faculty members. However, administrators have explained to the Board of Ed that without budget decisions, including a decision on tuition, they will be forced to propose such cuts. It is unclear if the Board will request that the Administration make such proposals.

Due to contract timelines, the Administration has provided notice to the Association of the possibility of a reduction in force and has scheduled a meeting with Association representatives for early in Spring term in order to discuss alternatives, consistent with Article 10.2 of the contract. This notice is a general one and does not specify programs or positions that would be reduced if the Administration is forced to make such proposals.

Ensuing College Budget Process
As a result of the new special meeting called by the Board for April 1, the Budget Development Subcommittee with representatives from administration, staff, faculty, managers, and students held a seven-hour meeting yesterday to finalize a balanced budget proposal, which will go to College Council tomorrow with a goal of presenting a balanced proposal to the Board on April 1. The proposal includes some increased revenues, namely tuition, as well as expense reductions, and budget reductions that obviate involuntary separations. The meeting, albeit lengthy, was productive and collaborative.

May Elections
A reminder — four positions on the Board of Education are up for election in May. At present LCCEA has endorsed a single candidate, Lisa Fragala. LCCEA Legislative Action Committee and Executive Council members voted unanimously in support of Lisa’s candidacy. Lisa is an experienced educator in Eugene, an active EEA member, and OEA Board member. She advocates tirelessly for funding for education and has been one of our most vocal Board members advocating for community college funding in Salem and with local legislators.

Save the Date
May 8 is the OEA statewide day of action to call on legislators to fully fund education, details TBA.

More information will be forthcoming in April about all of the above.

In the meantime, despite the uncertainties, I believe the college is moving on a positive trajectory. Much needed changes will transform the college and will certainly take time, but I have hope for what the future will bring.

I hope you can set all this aside and enjoy spring break.