College Trustees Target 59 Faculty Members for Possible Layoffs

For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles Community College District’s Board of Trustees has decided to give itself the option of laying off a substantial number of full-time instructors as a way of coping with cuts in state financial support.

By a 4-3 vote late Wednesday, the board agreed to notify 59 tenured faculty members in 20 disciplines that they may be out of a job by September. The layoffs would save $1.7 million, and are part of a series of cuts being considered to close a budget gap projected at $17 million between now and June, 1988.

The action, spurred by what one board member called the district’s “grim fiscal realities,” comes just a few weeks before the April 14 primary in which two of three incumbents seeking reelection face tough challenges and the opposition of the powerful faculty union.

Several trustees characterized the possible layoffs as a signal to the faculty union, which represents several hundred clerical and support workers and about 3,000 instructors, that it must be willing to make some major concessions if the district is to survive financially.

As an alternative to layoffs, district administrators proposed that full-time faculty members who teach during the summer session accept a pay cut, which officials say would save at least $1.5 million. Union officials rejected that proposal, however, and suggested that a better idea would be for administrators to take a summer pay cut.

The projected $17-million deficit is the result of a drastic shortfall in lottery revenues and special state aid to stabilize the budgets of college districts that have suffered severe enrollment losses. Although district officials say they hope some of the state funds will be restored in the next few months, they insist that the district must have the “safety valve” that layoffs would provide.

Under state law, districts must notify employees by March 15 if they might be out of work by September. Final dismissal notices would be sent out in May.

Chancellor Leslie Koltai said in an interview, however, that the actual number of dismissals probably will be reduced over the next few months as the board considers other cost-saving measures, such as offering retirement incentives to some senior faculty members. Other options include selling district land and eliminating summer school.

The proposed layoffs would affect instructors in disciplines ranging from Asian American studies to welding. Seventeen physical education instructors would be affected, the most of any of the 20 fields targeted for cuts.

Before dismissals of full-time instructors can be ordered, however, the district legally must remove any part-time instructors in their fields. As many as 200 part-time faculty members could lose their jobs, a move that union officials said would severely limit the course offerings in art, journalism, music and theater, which are heavily dependent on part-time staff.

At this time last year, the board voted to notify 157 instructors that they might lose their jobs. Most of the layoffs were later rescinded, but only after the administration had become the target of severe criticism from students and union officials.