College District Considers Administrator Furloughs

The Los Angeles Community College District is poised to take a step toward furloughing as many as 120 administrators -- including its chancellor -- for up to three weeks in the next school year.

In a separate action also being considered to cut costs, the district is making plans to move back to the classroom about 20 administrators and probably lay off a few others.

The district’s board of trustees is expected Wednesday to approve sending letters of notification to administrators who could be affected. That is a preliminary step that, under state law, must be taken by March 15 to enable the district to go ahead with furloughs, layoffs and demotions of administrators in the coming school year.

If all 120 administrators in line for possible furloughs were taken off the job for a week, it would yield savings estimated at $310,000. That is a modest sum in a district with an annual budget of more than $600 million, but it is symbolically important during the current state budget crisis, officials said. They also are considering a far broader plan to eventually extend furloughs to all categories of employees except full-time faculty members, with an eye toward realizing $2.5 million a week in savings.

The nine-campus system already has reduced its number of classes by 10% from a year ago, and has frozen or eliminated various positions that had been vacant. “If you have hard times and you have to share the pain, you better start at the top,” said Chancellor Marshall “Mark” Drummond. Drummond, whose salary is $197,000 a year, would lose $11,340 in pay if he were furloughed for three weeks.

Along with Drummond, other top district officials, presidents and deans would be in line for possible furloughs. A final decision on whether to go ahead with the furloughs, along with the more than 20 potential layoffs and demotions of administrators, will be in the hands of the new district board to be formed in July. Four of the district’s seven trustees face challenges in the March 4 election.

The potential cost-cutting steps are opposed by Charles Bossler, president of the Los Angeles Community College District Administrators Assn., a unit of Teamsters Local 911 that represents 85 administrators.

He branded the proposals as unfair and unlikely to save much money, and questioned why administrators were being earmarked for cutbacks when no similar reductions have been announced for other district employees. “We’re talking about laying off deans with 30 years of experience and keeping teachers with two years’ experience. Where’s the equity in that?” said Bossler, who also is dean of student services at Harbor College in Wilmington.

In addition, he asked, “Where is the savings in sending administrators back to the classroom if, in fact, you don’t lay off the junior members of the faculty? How does that save you money?”

Drummond said, however, that adjunct professors will be trimmed and that other groups of employees soon are likely to be designated for cutbacks too. He said he wanted to protect full-time faculty members because their role is central to the mission of the community colleges.