District board approves budget cuts

The MHCC proposed budget for 2014-2015 was adopted on Wednesday by the school’s budget committee, which also approved a local property tax levy that leaves rates unchanged.

The $67.8 million budget plan, at $3.3 million less than the current-year budget, forced the elimination of 16 employee positions at Mt. Hood this month.

Members of the budget committee then gaveled in their regular MHCC District board meeting (board members fill both roles) and quickly changed focus to other issues.

Mt. Hood’s annual achievement compact update was presented by John Hamblin, director of enrollment, Sheri Mosher, director of accreditation. The report is required by the Oregon Education Investment Board (OEIB), which has indentified a state goal, by 2025, to get 40 percent of all Oregon high school graduates to earn a certificate or associate’s degree, 40 percent to earn a bachelor’s or advanced college degree, and for all departing high school students to hold a high school diploma.

Mosher said the report covers many areas, including reverse articulate agreements with other colleges, enrollment numbers, various certificate numbers, and College Now to determine Mt. Hood’s progress in meeting OEIB standards.

According to Mosher, the Orientation Center is a great resource for retaining students. Visits to the center went up by 700 students from fall to winter term of this school year. “Our increasing enrollment numbers tend to reflect the efforts of having that one-on-one Orientation Center where students can get specific help,” she said.

Hamblin presented the hard numbers, saying that 453 students have completed their course of study and have received certificates or completed Oregon transfer modules (curriculums that require a year of education so that students can transfer to a two-year or four-year school). Last year, 350 students completed these programs.

“We’re projecting to end the year with 705 (such students), which is a substantial growth from the previous year, and almost double (the) projection and that’s also improving that six-and-a-half percent enrollment decline” for MHCC overall the past year,” said Hamblin.

“It’s a substantial growth and substantial completion and (are) indicators of student success. The activities that we’re doing as an institution to support student completion are paying off and our students are reaping the benefits.”

In her monthly board report, President Debbie Derr talked about attending the Community College President’s Council meeting in The Dalles.

Board Chairwoman Diane Noriega attended the Oregon Community Colleges Association.

Derr said that the Higher Education Coordinating Council is going forward to the Oregon Legislature to push for greater funding for higher education for both community colleges and Oregon’s public universities. The governor requested that the Council should put forward an “outcomes-based funding model.”

According to Derr, the Community College President’s Council proposed a funding model that would establish goals directed to student success and completion rates, and the physical health of each community college (maintenance and facilities improvements).

The next MHCC board meeting is scheduled for June 11.