Colleges to Freeze Expenses, Cut Staff

The Los Angeles Community College District board moved to reduce its $13.1-million budget shortfall Wednesday, voting to save $4.5 million by freezing expenses and firing temporary employees, including some student workers.

To further pare the projected deficit, which has imperiled the district’s standing with the state chancellor’s office, the board announced it will pursue concessions from the powerful unions that represent teachers and administrative and maintenance workers.

According to a notice in the board agenda, the unions will be asked to discuss the possibility of accepting unpaid furloughs, reduced benefits, salary deferments and layoffs.

A final vote on reopening union negotiations will be taken at a special meeting Friday.

The unions are under no legal obligation to reopen talks on the contracts now in force.

The current financial crisis in the country’s largest community college district follows severe cost-cutting measures in the last year at its nine campuses, three of which are in the San Fernando Valley--Pierce, Valley and Mission colleges.

Class offerings were cut as much as 20% this semester, following earlier cuts in the fall. Library hours have been trimmed and job vacancies left unfilled, yet most of the campuses are running a deficit anyway.

Trustees gave salary raises to employees but did not supply the campuses with additional funds to meet the higher payroll.

One Los Angeles City College student dispirited by the situation warned the trustees that unless they provided something to raise morale, “a lot of us are going to leave.”

“It is very devastating to me as a student that our voices are not heard,” said student Trudie Meriweather.

Union officials, meanwhile, say they are being unfairly blamed for the district’s fiscal woes, which they say have been exaggerated by district officials and exacerbated by mismanagement.

After winning the current three-year contract with salary increases ranging from 12% to 16% following several lean years, the unions are apparently ready for a fight to hold onto the gains. As a flier circulated by the union representing clerical staff said: “The only ‘take-back’ we are interested in is district administration taking back the disinformation they keep providing the media.”

At the board meeting, Los Angeles City College music and humanities professor Luther Henderson urged the unions to “just say no” to the board’s request.

“How can you give salary raises and then advocate “take backs” in salary, benefits and working conditions?” Henderson asked the trustees. “This is inconsistent and confuses the voters, students and the community we serve.”

Despite seeking union concessions, some board members are leery of blaming the deficit on the raises the board approved over the last year.

“It is premature to say that it’s salaries,” said Trustee Gloria Romero.

Romero has focused attention on a Wilshire Boulevard high-rise purchased by the board for use as a headquarters, but never occupied. Instead, the district went on to sign a 20-year lease on downtown office space.

The vacant building is on the market now, but its value fell significantly in the real estate collapse of the early 1990s. Because of its location on a stretch of Wilshire where values have not rebounded, the district stands to lose as much as $6 million.

Vice Chancellor Bonnie James, the district’s chief financial officer, has said that selling the building would not affect the short-term crisis because the money could be used only for capital improvements, not operating expenses, which is where the shortfall is.

Nearly $3 million of the projected deficit stems from a fine imposed by the state chancellor’s office because the district has fallen below the recommended 75-25 ratio of full-time to part-time faculty.

Board members took advantage of the presence at the meeting Wednesday of the state’s vice chancellor of fiscal policy for community colleges to plead for relief from the fine. The L.A. district’s ratio of full-time teachers has dropped to 71% because the faculty were offered early retirements several years ago to save money. But the district still has one of the highest ratios of full-time teachers in the state. The state average is 62.1%, but under state rules, the other schools are not penalized if their ratio is improving.

“That has really put us at a financial disadvantage,” said Trustee Beth Garfield.

In January, with the deficit projected as a relatively minor $1.3 million, the state chancellor’s office moved the Los Angeles district to an even lower rung on its list of troubled districts.

In a letter, the chancellor’s office cited the raises, which exceeded state guidelines, and other persistent fiscal problems.

A regional agency that accredits community colleges also warned that the district was in danger of losing its accreditation if it did not get its financial house in order.

A worsening financial picture could spur the state chancellor’s office to appoint a monitor to oversee the district’s spending.

But the state Vice Chancellor Patrick Lenz reassured trustees Wednesday that this was unlikely. “We’re getting very positive responses to our proposals to rectify this situation,” Lenz told the board.

Winston Butler, head of the district’s Academic Senate--which represents faculty members--said it is wrong to cut student workers who rely on their part-time jobs to stay in school. Those students who are in official work-study programs would not be affected.

Board members said acting Chancellor James Heinselman would have discretion to keep student workers who demonstrated that losing their jobs would cause hardship.

After the meeting, Heinselman said he would try to retain as many student jobs as possible.

“If we can protect student jobs, it will be done,” he said.