College District’s Finances Are Fine

* Regarding recent coverage of our district: Questions of money can inflame the passions, and the South Orange County Community College District trustees have been relentlessly pilloried by individuals upset about money and control of it.

The district was placed on a state fiscal watch list two years ago when reserves dropped below the recommended 3% of annual revenue.

As of July 1, 1998, it has 4.1% in its contingency reserve fund. Revenue has never been greater. The number of students and classes is at an all-time high.

However, opponents of fiscal reform rail against an administrative reorganization at Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College. The facts are that 15 management positions were eliminated or downsized, resulting in savings of $392,936 allocated to other uses.

Reassigned time at the colleges, the practice of paying teachers for committee assignments, ascended to $2,293,326 in 1996. Reassigned time for 1998-99 should be around $500,000, a reduction of $1.8 million a year of noninstructional expenditures.

District employees, from deans to janitors, are among the state’s best paid. While salaries of professors comprise only 52% of the budget, teachers support a solid fiscal district base. Faculty recently signed a contract--unique in the state--with its COLA tied to the maintenance of a 3% contingency reserve.

Unfortunately, newspapers fail to cover the 31,000 students receiving excellent instruction from nearly 1,000 professors at Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College.

DOROTHY FORTUNE

Vice President

South Orange County

Community College District