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Budget affects not just MHCC; Oregon colleges feel the strain
Community colleges in Oregon are facing nearly a 15% budget decrease from the 2007-2009 biennium
The Advocate
While Mt. Hood Community College administrators continue to try to figure out where the college fits amid the ever-changing landscape of the state community college budget, there are 16 other community colleges in Oregon trying to do the same.
This week, the Joint Committee on Ways and Means Co-Chairs released its 2009-2011 recommended budget, according to an all-staff e-mail sent Monday morning by MHCC President John Sygielski. The Co-Chairs’ budget is now set at $423 million for Oregon community colleges, “approximately a 15 percent decrease in funding from the 2007-2009” biennium, according to the email.
JoAnn Zahn, director of fiscal operation, budget and auxiliary services, said Tuesday that legislators “do not feel they can support $440 million (for community colleges).”
“We’re going to be experiencing close to the 2005-2007 biennium budget of $428 million,” said Zahn. “We’re just $5 million lower if this ends up being the budget. But there are still a couple weeks for the budget to be modified; it could be higher or even lower.”
Zahn said legislation needs to be influenced, an idea underlined by Sygielski’s e-mail.
“In an effort to increase the funding level, we must educate the co-chairs about the critical role community colleges are playing right now as an educational safety net for Oregonians who have lost their jobs due to the recession,” said Sygielski in the e-mail.
“Community colleges are seeing the largest enrollment increases of any sector of education in Oregon as displaced workers turn to colleges for the training and education they need to get back into the workplace.”
Meanwhile, 200 miles away in Pendleton, Blue Mountain Community College has put a plan into action to help its budget crunch.
Art Doherty, BMCC’s director of human resources, said their budget is significantly less than MHCC’s, but a loss of potential state funding will still hurt.
“Our expected state funding for the next biennium is about $5.25 million,” said Doherty. “We were hoping to get somewhere in the neighborhood of $5.5 to $6 million, but we’ll take what we can get.”
“Right now we’re looking at freezing increases in salary,” said Doherty. “This is all still an estimate until we get an actual number from the state. We haven’t had any layoffs in the last year, and we’re hoping that doesn’t become a necessity.”
Central Oregon Community College, located in Bend, may be even less affected by a potential budget calamity.
“This year, we were among the fastest growing community colleges in the state,” said Ron Paradis, COCC’s director of college relations. “Our attendance has increased 25 percent over the last year and 40 percent over the last two years.”
Paradis said he understands that the enrollment increases are due to “people looking to community colleges during tough times.”
“Different community colleges receive different amounts in state funding and we receive the least,” Paradis said. “We’re expecting about $4 million out of an operating budget of about $58 million. Right now we’re averaging about 5,500 students per quarter.”
Paradis said while the early indicators say that enrollment will increase by more than an additional 3 percent, that was all they were budgeting for as a precaution.
While MHCC’s enrollment has continued to increase slightly over the year, Sygielski said after last month’s district board meeting that he was expecting and preparing for state funding to be closer to $415 to $420 million.
Zahn said she wasn’t sure where additional cuts would take place, but that discussions would have to take place with employee groups and collaborative efforts would have to be made in order to keep as many people employed as possible and, as Sygielski says, “do more with less.”
“We want to keep all of our employees,” said Zahn. “Everyone needs to make sacrifices and if we do so, under the guidance of Dr. Ski (Sygielski), we will pull ourselves out of this problem.”
At the end of Sygielski’s e-mail, he implored staff to inform elected officials about “the difference that MHCC is making in the community.”
“We must share our story and the stories of our students,” said Sygielski. “Simply put, less funding will result in the college serving fewer students. We must tell our elected officials about what would happen to MHCC students if student services were reduced and/or classes were cut due to a lack of funding . . . . Now more than ever, we must unite to encourage select state elected officials to support community college education.”