BOARD OF EDUCATION
Minutes - December 8, 2004
1) Attendance
Chair Paul Holman called the meeting of the Lane Community College Board of Education to order at 6:32 p.m. Present were: Board Members Jay Bozievich, Roger Hall, Larry Romine, Michael Rose, Kathleen Shelley, and Dennis Shine. Also present were President Mary Spilde; Vice President Sonya Christian; Vice President Marie Matsen; Executive Assistant to the President Tracy Simms; College Counsel Meg Kieran; Lane Community College Education Association Jim Salt; Lane Community College Employees Federation President Bob Baldwin; and Associated Students of Lane Community College President Tony McCown.
2) President's Report
Governor's Recommended 2005-07 Budget
$388 million in community college support fund (down from $410 million in 03-05) $94 million in capital construction for Clatsop, Klamath, Oregon Coast , Rogue and Tillamook $50 million additional in Oregon Opportunity Grant
Each agency had to submit a 10 percent decrease budget package, which the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development did. Our analyst recommended only a 7.1 percent reduction for community colleges (7.16 percent for the Oregon University System) However, for every other state agency, they rolled back in PERS and healthcare increase costs, but they did not do that for community colleges.
The Governor said that all budgets took cuts, but now that we have reviewed the documents, it is clear that most budgets were cut from a projection that included inflation and other roll-up costs and actually will get more raw dollars than they currently have. Community colleges, on the other hand, got a real cut of $22 million fewer dollars than last biennium. We have inflation and roll-up costs too. We simply cannot understand this inequity.
The Governor talked about investing in programs that could turn the economy around. Everyone agrees that community colleges provide the most powerful and cost effective programs for getting people back to work. No other budget has that capability, yet we are one of only five state programs to receive a decrease in raw dollars from the current biennium.
If community colleges are cut to the extent recommended in the Governor's budget, they will provide classes for 42,000 fewer students next year. This reduction will be on top of the 70,000 enrollment drop in the last two years due to last biennium's cut.
Community colleges applaud the Governor's proposed investment in the Oregon Opportunity Grant. We need to insure, however, that the money can be distributed to part-time students since most community college students attend school part-time while supporting their families. Currently, these students do not qualify for the grants.
Oregon employers are depending on community colleges to train students to fill available jobs. Workforce training is one of the short term solutions to Oregon 's economic problems. Without a significant reinvestment in community colleges, the economic recovery needed to support human services, K-12, corrections and safety will not happen.
The Governor's proposed budget for community colleges is unacceptable and community college students, advocates and business partners will demand its improvement.
Obviously, this will have a serious affect on Lane. We were anticipating a deficit of over a $1 million assuming flat funding from the state. The reduction in the governor's budget adds significantly to that figure. This is further complicated by the work being done on the distribution formula. We are working on projections right now and will have new projections available for the board and the public early in January. In the meantime we are developing a budget process for this year.
I had an opportunity last week to see a demonstration of the SimMan. This is a new tool for use in the Nursing program for which we received grant funding. It has the ability to provide simulation education and test clinical decision-making skills during realistic patient-care scenarios. This thing breathes, talks, and groans. If you are interested, I could arrange a demonstration for the board during one of your work sessions.
College Now
The College Now Program is a ‘dual credit' partnership between Lane Community College and 23 high schools which offers college classes as part of the high school day and awards simultaneous college and high school credit to students. We are planning an eliminating the fee for College Now on a pilot basis.
Rationale for Fee Elimination:
- Increases the number of high school students enrolling in Lane programs following their College Now enrollment in high school.
- Increases professional-technical student enrollment, which was typically less than half of all students enrolled.
- Removes the barrier of program cost ($30), and eliminates the additional step of getting parent signature before being enrolled.
- Eliminates billing CN students at home, which will sharply reduce Enrollment Services and College Now staff time needed to deal with students and families who have not paid their CN bill, incur late fees, cannot be enrolled in subsequent courses, and come away from their first involvement with Lane with a negative image.
Benefits:
Short term : Involves more students with College Now classes and sharply reduces the number of Lane staff hours spent on billing explanations and problem solving.
Long term : Doubles FTE from 206 (2003-04) to 400 for 2004-05. (CN FTE is the lowest cost FTE generated at Lane) and increases newly graduated HS student enrollment at Lane.
Project length:
2004-05, 2005-06 – extension decision to be made Spring 2006
Assessment :
The effectiveness of eliminating the CN fee will be assessed by the Lane Institutional Research and Planning Office and College Now Program Coordinator.
Other K-12 Initiatives:
Placement Testing Pilot Project – Will offer Lane Placement tests at Community Learning Centers for Elmira , Oakridge, and Willamette high school students. First phase, January 2005, will involve 50-100 students at each high school. Students will be better able to assess their college readiness, take additional high school courses as needed and enter Lane with no need for remedial classes. Lane Counseling and Testing offices are working cooperatively with the Lane Education Service District (ESD) on this project.
Regional Technical Education Consortium - The Regional Technical Education Center (R-TEC) project has recently received $83,100 in grants related to continuing facilitation and pilot classes. The design team and sub-committees continue to meet. Jack Roberts of the Metro Partnership spoke to the group in November and will be a member of the steering committee which is being formed. A bus tour organized by Lane ESD November 15 took educators and community members to Willamette High School and Cottage Grove High School 's new technology classrooms and to Lane Community College for a tour of the Advanced Technology division. Fundamentals of Technology classes at Crow High School and Lane, and Trade Skills classes continue winter and spring term.
Two of our staff were recognized recently by the American Association of Community Colleges Oregon Chapter. Dawn DeWolf, chair of the Center for Advanced Learning was nominated for the Carolyn Desjardins Leadership Award and Tracy Simms received a College Excellence Award. Congratulations to them.
A couple of weeks ago, we had a wonderful event to recognize our student scholarship recipients -- the Shining Star reception. We connect students with the donors. It is a wonderful event. Just as an example of the power of this event, one of the donors called the following day and donated another $7,000 to fund an additional scholarship.
Also on the topic of scholarships, an ad was recently placed in the Chronicle honoring the Jackson Kent Cooke scholars. Alex San Pedro was the Lane recipient.
The Lane Family Connections Program was ranked the #1 community agency for the Oregon Child Care Tax Credit Contribution Program. A total of $500,000 will be used to increase provider wages and professional development, decrease parent cost to less than 10 percent of family income and improve the quality of child care received in Lane County .
In July, the board passed a motion on community fundraising for sports; part of the motion required a report in December. Spilde thanked Dean Hansen for all the work he is doing and thanked Sean MonDragon, Rodger Bates, and Patrick Lanning for their work in preparing the Athletic Reinstatement Foundation Account Report. The report detailing deposits as of December 8, 2004 , and pledges billed was distributed to the board.
Marie Matsen encouraged board members to participate in the annual Bookstore raffle, which raises money to help provide a good holiday for the families of students. 3) Review of Agenda
Under Consent Agenda item 2-C, a corrected tuition rate was distributed. The tuition rate for international and out-of-state students should have been $230 per credit hour.
4) Statements from audience
- Dean Hansen provided an update on fundraising activities for the reinstated baseball program.
- Bruce Miller spoke about a number of issues including OSPIRG, University of Oregon classes, and noted that a meeting was held in Portland to discuss statewide economic problems.
5) Consent Agenda
Romine moved, seconded by Shelley, to approve the amended consent agenda consisting of:
- Approval of the November 16, 2004, Minutes
- Advisory Committee Membership
- Amended Tuition Rate
Motion passed 7-0.
6) Academic Calendar
Romine moved, seconded by Shine, to approve the 2005-06 Academic Calendar.
Motion passed 7-0.
7) Eugene Downtown Urban Renewal Agency
After researching a possible loan from the Eugene Downtown Urban Renewal agency to improve the facade of the Downtown Center , Bob Mention advised against the college moving forward with the loan because bank loans were reportedly just as competitive as the Urban Renewal agency loan.
Motion passed 7-0.
8) ASLCC Mandatory Student Activity Fee
Romine moved, seconded by Shelley, to approve the proposed ASLCC ballot measure language for inclusion in a special election to be conducted winter term 2005.
Rose moved, seconded by Bozievich, to amend the original motion to move the date of the election from winter term to spring term 2005. This would allow for a greater vote by students during normal student elections and would allow time for students to have a better idea of possible tuition increases.
Motion passed 6-1. (Romine - No)
Romine moved, seconded by Shelley, to approve the proposed amended ASLCC ballot measure language for inclusion in a special election to be conducted spring term 2005.
Motion passed 7-0.
9) Benchmarks
Craig Taylor responded to questions and comments on the following Benchmarks.
- Goal Accomplishment of Former Students
- Employment of Professional Technical Students in Jobs Related to Their Training
- Professional Technical Students' Satisfaction
- Transfer Students' Satisfaction with Lane Preparation
10) Financial Conditions and Activities – Quarterly Report
Marie Matsen pointed out an error in the black box on page 4-B-2. Fund Balance – Actual, “Restricted” should be “Unrestricted” and below that, “Unrestricted” should be “Restricted.” She said projections are based on historical spending patterns.
11) Reports
ASLCC President Tony McCown
expressed concerns that the tuition rate increase was not open to discussion prior to a board vote. He reported that students at Lane and other schools are involved in a legislative strike whereby teams specializing in specific issues are available to lobby legislators. The Eugene City Council approved housing standards by a 7-1 vote. A Northwest Student Leadership Conference was held in November with 33 Lane students attending.
LCCEF President Bob Baldwin
said concerns with the classified vacation cap have been resolved. At a recent meeting, Jim Sager, senior policy analyst to Governor Kulongoski, heard strong opinions from participants about the “abandonment of education.” As Lane's procurement specialist, Baldwin noted that staff are being extra careful in reviewing and evaluating expenditures.
LCCEA President Jim Salt
- Although the governance system implementation is moving forward with a good number of faulty, a communication system needs to be developed so that all staff and board members can be kept aware of what is happening.
- Faculty and the faculty bargaining team have held meetings on renegotiating the main contract.
- Substantial progress is being made on the appropriate level of full-time and part-time faculty.
- Administrative bargaining team members have been working in a highly collaborative process with the faculty bargaining team.
Vice President Sonya Christian
Continuing Education and Workforce Development (CEWD)
Business Development Center/Contract Training
OBIE (one of two publicly traded companies headquartered in Eugene ) experienced a downturn when a Chicago Ad contract went bad; they are selling the company. Approximately 30 people have been laid off; Lane is providing job search classes to them at Obie.
On Wednesday, December 8, KEZI aired two spots on their morning news about the Business Development Center (BDC) and two clients.
On January 19, 2005 the BDC/CT will host a 'Meet the Mayor' session with select business guests from our community.
Lane Community College at Florence
LCC at Florence staff will be hosts for the annual Heceta Lightkeepers "Victorian Holiday Christmas" Saturday, December 18, 2004 , from 3 – 7pm . This event attracts hundreds of visitors, not only from western Lane County , but throughout the state. Last year it was featured in Sunset Magazine as well as the front page of the Oregonian.
Professional Technical and Lower Division Transfer Instruction
Advanced Technology/Flight Technology
Representatives of the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) were on the Lane campus November 30, 2004 , to make the Charles Taylor award to one of our recent Aviation Maintenance graduates and to award about 20 sets of Pilot Proficiency wings to pilots.
Cooperative Education
Beverly Farfan, Lane Cooperative Education Coordinator, has once again organized and facilitated the successful Whitaker Free Community Thanksgiving Dinner. Besides her efforts, other Lane employees were integral to the event. Instructors Clive Wanstall and Greg Winslow and several culinary arts students cooked the 2100 pounds of turkey and almost all the other food that was served. OSPIRG members helped with the dinner preparation and collected money to buy winter socks to give to people. Sue Thompson and Michael Zimmerman from Health and Physical Education organized and distributed the new give-away items during the dinner. The Eugene dinner at the Whitaker Community Head Start Center served about 2000 men, women and children. Beverly also worked with two groups in Springfield to facilitate two new community Thanksgiving dinners.
Student Services
The office of Instruction and Students Services is completely engaged with the governance system through our work with the Learning and Student Affairs councils. A team from Lane is being sent to the AACU Conference on “Liberal Education and the New Academy : Raising Expectations & Keeping Promises.” The team consists of six governance council members: three from the Learning Council, two from Faculty Council, and one student. We would also like to thank ASLCC for sponsoring a second student representative to attend the conference.
The office of Instruction and Student Services is supporting OSPIRG and ASLCC in the affordable textbook initiative. The Bookstore has also joined the campaign.
The Sustainability and Learning Group has started their work. Members are Sonya Christian, Jackie Fern, Margaret Robertson, Joe Russin, and Stan Taylor.
The college is preparing to report back to the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities on January 11, 2005 , responding to recommendations from our October accreditation visit.
Mary Brau, Jim Garcia, and Michael Samano attended the “Cultural Competency in Higher Ed Summit.”
The hiring process for the Associate Vice President for Instruction and Student Services has been initiated. Vice President Marie Matsen
confirmed that $930 has been raised from two Bookstore raffles. KLCC's capital campaign goal of $2.3 million has raised pledges, plus cash in hand, of over $800,000, 35 percent of the goal. Matsen especially thanked board members for their 100 percent participation toward the capital campaign.
Board Members
Jay Bozievich
responded to Tony McCown's concerns with the tuition rate increase. He explained that the 2002 board decision to adjust the tuition rate for inflation using an appropriate index for two-year public colleges was made after thorough discussion. He pointed out that the policy is only in effect until the end of the 2004-05 academic year, at which time the board may review the policy with students and staff, and determine whether a) to continue the policy, or b) to revise the policy.
Roger Hall
wanted everyone to be aware that the Governor's proposed budget “disinvests” in community colleges, unlike all other educational institutions in the state which received modest increases.
Mike Rose
said the Governor's proposed budget is not final until the legislature votes on it, and that everyone still has an opportunity to make a difference.
Dennis Shine
will attend a Lane Council of Governments meeting December 9.
Larry Romine
like many others, wished everyone a happy holiday.
Kathleen Shelley
thanked those who serve on advisory committees, commending the time and expertise they give to the college.
Paul Holman
stated that very productive board work sessions were held on November 22 and 29.
12) Date, Place, and Proposed Agenda Items for Next Regular Meeting
Wednesday, January 12, 2005, Boardroom, Building 3, Lane Community College.
13) The board meeting unanimously adjourned at 8:05 p.m. .
___________________________
Paul Holman, Chair
______________________________
Mary Spilde, President/District Clerk