Chancellor's Communication
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July 30, 2009
Dear Colleagues:
With a state budget now approved by the Legislature and signed by the Governor it is my hope that California can step off the economic roller coaster. No one is happy with the budget solution, but at least it allows everyone to move forward.
For Riverside Community College District, the budget picture developed as we had expected. Our informed assumptions proved to be "on the money" and we do face a $16.5 million budget deficit for this year. Fortunately, we have been able to work together at the district and campus levels to identify strategies that will eliminate that deficit, maintain our full-time workforce and leave us in a stable financial position as we look ahead to 2010/11.
Making cuts of that magnitude is not an easy or painless task. As you know from my previous communications and the recent updates by the campus presidents, the reductions affect every area of the college community. I won't go into great detail here, but I do want to note that the financial targets were established under the principles of fairness and proportionality. I also have to say that once I sat down to cut the Chancellor’s Office, Board, and Chief of Staff’s budgets by the required $323,000 it was very difficult to do so and still maintain a desired level of service. It gave me a very personal sense of what I had asked of the campuses and other district departments.
On the operational side, the District and campuses will reduce costs by many millions of dollars by the end of this academic year. We've all tried to limit direct impacts on students and our full-time workforce. However, there is no doubt that our students are and will be affected by a reduction in some services and the elimination of 1,000 class sections, which is needed to address the financial burden caused by 4,500 unfunded FTES. I want to thank our department chairs and deans who worked tirelessly to identify sections in such a way as to cause the least disruption in our students’ academic progress.
Next Tuesday, the Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting to discuss the budget and details of our strategies. As this year proceeds we will gain a better sense of how we need to approach next year’s financial challenges. I know that several individuals already have submitted efficiency and cost-saving ideas to their campus presidents, and I want to thank them for leading the way. I want to encourage everyone to continue thinking along these lines, as well as how we might increase revenue from other sources. In the upcoming months meetings will be scheduled with faculty, staff, and students to solicit input about budget strategies for the 2010/11 fiscal year.
I also want to note that, with a state budget finally in place, today is just the beginning. We may not have all the answers, but we have much to do in the months ahead. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said: "You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
Greg Gray
Chancellor