President's Report: Here Comes the Sun
Good news is rolling in from Sacramento. Some of the most challenging new proposals are not making it through the legislative process. For example, the governor’s proposal to move all adult education to the community colleges will not happen next year. This is not to say the issue is dead. Instead, the word seems to be the legislators realized this was moving way too fast on what could be a very complicated change. With the possibility of Cabrillo taking on adult education in the future, the district still wants to discuss the issue of Non-Credit compensation at the negotiating table. Cabrillo has very little Non-Credit, so it’s never been addressed in the contract.
Another good piece of news is there is now conversation in Sacramento about restoration of funding cuts made last year (2011/12). Until recently, the state had only tracked the funding cut made in 2009/10, and the state was closing in on restoring that cut completely. Now, the workload reduction of last year is being examined. What this means for Cabrillo is unknown. Restoration of cuts to our enrollment cap can only be claimed if we have the students, the FTES, to earn the funding. Cabrillo is ramping up capacity, but it’s not clear how far we can go in restoring students. Though expanding capacity and claiming restoration is good for the community and college, it won’t translate to individual faculty salaries. Restoration means more revenue, but it also means more costs.
by Paul Harvell
There are two important upcoming events. The first is on Monday, May 6th when CPC and the board hold a joint study session on Student Success....The second event is Friday, May 10th when we have our annual Burrito Bash. This is an important year for this event. With all that we’ve traversed over the last five years and as we turn the corner, it’s important for faculty and staff to come together and spend a little time enjoying each other’s company and reminding ourselves of the joys of life here on the edge of the Monterey Bay. |
Other challenges remain. There is lot of conversation still about MOOC’s. I didn’t hear any update on the governor’s proposal to move to some funding based on outcome. There are also issues about how we get funding from Prop 30 passage. Part of Prop 30 was creating an “EPA” – Education Protection Account. The reason was to ensure taxpayers that Sacramento couldn’t use the increase in revenue for anything but education. How we get the money and how we resolve some accountability issues are still not fully known.
The best news: state revenues look to be increasing. We all await the “May Revise” when the governor presents his updated budget.
There are two important upcoming events. The first is on Monday, May 6th when CPC and the board hold a joint study session on Student Success. The new state “Scorecard” is out that attempts to measure student success; you can compare Cabrillo to the other colleges in the system.
The second event is Friday, May 10th when we have our annual Burrito Bash. This is an important year for this event. With all that we’ve traversed over the last five years and as we turn the corner, it’s important for faculty and staff to come together and spend a little time enjoying each other’s company and reminding ourselves of the joys of life here on the edge of the Monterey Bay. Hope to see you all there (though the negotiating team will be late; we’re meeting that afternoon).