Budget process for fiscal year 2020-21

College Readiness

Strategic Priority: Strengthen curricular, instructional, and student services partnerships with high schools in our College’s district to improve readiness for Clackamas Community College.

Financial Sustainability

Strategic Priority: Increase institutional resources and capacity in order to better fulfill our mission through:

• obtaining more grants and donations
• using existing resources more effectively
• creating sustainable programs, services and partnerships
• preserving public trust through responsible and transparent fiscal operations.

Academic Innovation and Relevance

Strategic Priority: Continue to create an overall portfolio of high-quality, relevant, innovative and evidence-based instructional methods, programs, environments and models in order to better serve our students and community.

Guided Pathways

Strategic Priority: Degree- and certificate-seeking students will have clearly articulated guided educational and career pathways based on each student’s stated intent.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Strategic Priority: Clackamas Community College (CCC) recognizes and affirms the agency to advance equity for the betterment of students, employees, and in the greater community.

Inclusivity

• Engage in shared governance processes to ensure there is time for people to process, react and weigh in
  • Groups to be involved: Leadership Cabinet (LC), Budget Advisory Group (BAG), Presidents Council (PC), College Council (CC), Associated Student Government (ASG), open forums
• Communicate often and through a variety of mediums, including: budget website, all staff emails, forums, polling and others

Equity

• Utilize an equity lens to make budget-related decisions that center on social and racial justice

Transparency

• Articulate when a decision is being made vs. when an idea is being vetted
• Share and seek agreement on data and data source
• Make data informed decisions
• Circle back with the college community with the decisions that have been made

Student Centered

• Minimize negative impacts on student success
• Maintain academic excellence

Compassion and Wellbeing

• Minimize negative impacts to employees
• Preserve the health and safety of CCC’s students and employees

Accountability

• Instill shared accountability for CCC’s fiscal stewardship across all employee groups

Innovation

• Identify operational efficiencies
• Leave space for strategic growth opportunities

Professionalism

• Commit to civility and thoughtful dialogue throughout the process

How will budget decisions be made?

• Budget reduction ideas (cuts and efficiencies) will be reviewed by the Budget Advisory Group (BAG) utilizing a rubric.
• Once the BAG has completed their review, the Leadership Cabinet will review the BAG's rubric scoring results. Leadership cabinet will then prioritize the budget reduction ideas.
• The prioritized budget reduction ideas will be shared with the college through virtual budget forums in March.
  • A survey will also be distributed for the college community to provide anonymous feedback on the prioritize budget reduction ideas.
• The Executive Team will review feedback from the forums and the survey to make final decisions on which budget reductions to incorporate into the Proposed Budget.
• The Proposed Budget will then be shared with the college community.
• The Business Office will close the loop with all employees who submitted budget reduction or efficiency ideas, so there is an understanding of what happened to their idea/submittal.
• The college public Budget Committee, an external oversight group, will review the Proposed Budget and will vote to formally approve the budget.
• The Board of Education will be asked to vote on the Approved Budget in June. Once the Board has voted to accept the Approved Budget, it becomes the Adopted Budget.

How will new revenue ideas be processed?

• New revenue ideas will go to the Innovation Team for evaluation and prioritization for funding from the Innovation Fund ($250,000 available); the Executive Team will review the Innovation Team prioritization and finalize which ideas are funded.
  • Innovation Request Form

• Board of Education Financial Forecast Gap Scenarios

• Scrutinize the filling of all vacant or vacated positions via through interim process culminating in decisions through Executive Team
• Continue the Strategic Enrollment Management plan
• Investigate opportunities for operational efficiencies
• Continue to pursue alternative revenue streams
• Reopen the voluntary separation incentive program
• Strong advocacy at the state level for community college funding

CCC will utilize the shared governance process and the organization structure to disseminate and share information with the college community. In addition, there will be all-staff communications from the college president. Lastly, current information about the budget reduction process will be posted on this webpage and in CCC This Week.

• Ivan Acosta, DEI Committee Representative
• Jennifer Anderson, Associate Dean, Academic Foundations and Connections
• Dustin J Bates, Full-time Faculty Representative
• Katrina Boone, Associate Dean, Institutional Effectiveness and Planning
• Nora Brodnicki, Full-time Faculty Representative
• Amy Cannata, Co-President, Administrative/Confidential Group
• John Chang, Executive Director, Foundation
• Bob Cochran, Dean, Campus Services
• Tim Cook, President
• Melissa Deyoe, Classified Representative
• Caleb Feldman, DEI Committee Representative
• Enrique Ferrera, Classified Representative
• Sue Goff, Dean, Arts and Sciences
• Lori Hall, Executive Director, College Relations and Marketing
• Shalee Hodgson, Associate Dean, Technology, Applied Science and Public Services
• Jason Kovac, Dean, Institutional Effectiveness and Planning
• Matt Larkin, Co-President, Classified Association
• Kelly Lawrence, Co-President, Classified Association
• Jay Leuck, President, Full-time Faculty Association
• Alissa Mahar, Vice President, College Services
• Jim Martineau, Exec Team Addition
• Jennifer Nickel, Co-President, Part-time Faculty Association
• Leslie Ormandy, Co-President, Part-time Faculty Association
• David Plotkin, Vice President, Instruction and Student Services
• Michael R. Price, Part-time Faculty Representative
• Lisa Reynolds, Associate Dean, Arts and Sciences
• Melissa Richardson, Chief Human Resources Officer
• Cynthia Risan, Dean, Technology, Applied Science and Public Services
• Jeff Shaffer, Dean, Business Services
• Tom Sonoff, Director, College Safety
• Tara Sprehe, Dean, Academic Foundations and Connections
• Lanie Sticka, President, Associated Student Government
• Shelly Tracy, Co-President, Administrative/Confidential Group
• Saby Waraich, Chief Information Officer
• MaryJean Williams, Part-time Faculty Representative
• Mark Yannotta, Full-time Faculty Representative
• Vacant, Associated Student Government Representative

• John Chang, Executive Director, Foundation
• Tim Cook, President
• Lori Hall, Executive Director, College Relations and Marketing
• Alissa Mahar, Vice President, College Services
• David Plotkin, Vice President, Instruction and Student Services
• Melissa Richardson, Chief Human Resources Officer
• Jeff Shaffer, Dean, Business Services
• Tara Sprehe, Dean, Academic Foundations and Connections

• Jennifer Anderson, Associate Dean, Academic Foundation and Connections
• Katrina Boone, Associate Dean, Institutional Effectiveness and Planning
• John Chang, Executive Director, Foundation
• Bob Cochran, Dean, Campus Services
• Tim Cook, President
• Lisa Davidson, Executive Director, Connections with Business and Industry
• Sue Goff, Dean, Arts and Sciences
• Lori Hall, Executive Director, College Relations and Marketing
• Shalee Hodgson, Associate Dean, Technology, Applied Science and Public Services
• Jason Kovac, Dean, Institutional Effectiveness and Planning
• Alissa Mahar, Vice President, College Services
• David Plotkin, Vice President, Instruction and Student Services
• Lisa Reynolds, Associate Dean, Arts and Sciences
• Melissa Richardson, Chief Human Resources Officer
• Cynthia Risan, Dean, Technology, Applied Science and Public Services
• Jeff Shaffer, Dean, Business Services
• Tom Sonoff, Director, College Safety
• Tara Sprehe, Dean, Academic Foundations and Connections
• Saby Waraich, Chief information Officer

• Amy Cannata, Co-President, Administrative/Confidential Group
• Tim Cook, President
• Lori Hall, Executive Director, College Relations and Marketing
• Kelly Lawrence, Co-President, Classified Association
• Jay Leuck, President, Full-time Faculty Association
• Alissa Mahar, Vice President, College Services
• Leslie Ormandy, Co-President, Part-time Faculty Association
• David Plotkin, Vice President, Instruction and Student Services
• Melissa Richardson, Chief Human Resources Officer
• Cynthia Risan, College Council Chair
• Lanie Sticka, President, Associated Student Government

Dear Colleagues,

I’m writing to you with good news. Thanks to federal stimulus funding, recent news about anticipated state funding, current year operational savings, and the judicious work of everyone at CCC, we expect to close our budget gap for the next biennium without any significant budget cuts. This means there will be no layoffs, or academic program reductions or eliminations in this year’s budget process.

What has changed to close the gap?

One-time measures

• Federal stimulus dollars - On March 19, the U.S. Department of Education amended the stimulus language, which now allows us to backdate revenue losses due to COVID to  March 2020. We estimate this will recover about $3.2 million in lost tuition.
• In the last year, we have saved more money than anticipated through personnel (i.e., holding vacant positions open), food and travel budgets, printing, and utility savings.

On-going funding

• The Oregon Ways and Means Committee announced its intention to use the state’s stimulus funds to bridge its budget gaps, which includes keeping community colleges at their current service level. We expect this to raise our current state funding of $641 million for all 17 community colleges to $673 million. 
• Note: We are still advocating for $703 million for community colleges, which is what we need to meet the educational needs of our students and community. We won’t know this number for certain until the end of the legislative session, which is typically the end of June.
• A $4 per credit hour tuition increase based on the $673 million in state funding was approved by the CCC Board of Education.

So we do not lose the thoughtful and strategic work that has been conducted this year, we are completing the budget reduction and the Academic Reduction and Elimination (ARE) processes, but with new intent.  We will still need to address our structural deficit but this good means we can take the necessary time to do the work.

The Leadership Cabinet has identified $1.4 million in proposed budget cuts that are ready to be run through a rubric by the Budget Advisory Group (BAG) if state funding is less than expected. Vice President David Plotkin will follow up with further details regarding the ARE process.  

Please join me, Vice President David Plotkin, Vice President Alissa Mahar, and Business Services Dean Jeff Shaffer at an open forum on Thursday, April 1, at noon, when we will provide more details about our budget, the ARE/budget processes, and answer your questions.

I hope this news brings some relief to all of us. This year has been traumatic and stressful for our college community. I am optimistic about our future, our recovery, and the rebuilding of our community. 

Thank you for all of your work to address these budgetary issues,

Best,

Tim

Dear colleagues,

This year's budget process is decidedly more complex than in previous years due to impacts from the pandemic, decreased enrollment, federal recovery funds, unknown state funding, and our existing budget gap, which continues to be a moving target.

As we work through the budget process, we are exploring ways to find efficiencies and reductions but are also seeking ways to generate revenue and encourage innovation. On top of that, the unexpected can happen (we saw plenty of that in 2020), and funding may be needed to address unanticipated situations.

We have updated the budget scenarios to reflect the most recent assumptions, and we have a few ways to get your input and to make budget requests:

Budget forecast scenarios

We have three revised budget forecast scenarios based on state funding, tuition, the college's ending fund balance (which is a board policy to keep a reserve of funds), and the use of reserved PERS (Public Employee Retirement System) dollars. The scenarios range from us having a $3.9 million gap and needing to cut $2.7 million in operations, to a rosier balanced budget and no operational cuts.

There are several assumptions built into the scenarios, and there are a number of levers that can change each scenario. Please see the attached Financial Forecast Gap scenario document for details. The document can also be found on the Budget Process webpage.

We won't know the state funding recommendation until perhaps April or May, which makes our budgeting process even more difficult. The CCC Board of Education is expected to set tuition and fees in March.

Budget reduction/efficiency/existing revenue or fee ideas

Last academic year, we asked for your help in generating ideas on budget reductions, efficiencies, and modifications to existing revenues or fees. I would like your help again this year. Please review the Budget Balancing Plan Guiding Principles and the Budget Scoring Rubric on the Budget Process webpage. We will be referring to these when considering submitted ideas.

Your involvement in last year's process resulted in reductions and efficiencies we would not have otherwise come up with. So, please take some time and submit any ideas you have. We welcome ideas both broad and narrow, and every submission will be considered. The information you provide in the intake form will be used to score the submission using the Budget Scoring Rubric.

The deadline for submission is Feb. 19. Complete the attached form and send it to budget@clackamas.edu. You can also find the form on the Budget Process webpage.

Emergency needs requests

Traditionally, CCC uses the annual unit planning process to solicit requests for additional funding or new funding. Because of our anticipated budget shortfall and COVID-19, we have removed that portion from the unit planning template. However, we recognize that there may be some emerging needs that will need to be addressed.

We have created an Emergency Needs Intake Form that can be used to apply for funding for unanticipated critical ongoing needs that are $10,000 or more. The form is attached and can be found on the Budget Process webpage.

Innovation funding requests

The College Innovation Fund (established in fiscal year 2013‐14) was created to encourage new ideas from the college community and provide an opportunity to apply for new one-time funding. This process is intended to create new and innovative ways to generate revenue.

To learn more and see the application, visit www.clackamas.edu/innovation-fund. The deadline for this round is Friday, Feb. 26.

NOTE: To understand the review process for all budget requests and ideas, see the attached flow chart, which can also be found on the Budget Process webpage.

Stay engaged

There will be opportunities to learn about the process and share your ideas and opinions, including budget forums, drop-in sessions, College Council meetings, Associated Student Government meetings, all-staff emails and the webpage, which will be updated frequently (www.clackamas.edu/budget-process).

Key upcoming dates:

• Feb. 16 - Presidents' Council - tuition and fees discussion
• Feb. 17 - Board of Education budget work session, tuition/fees first read
• Feb. 19 - College Council update on budget process
• Feb. 19 - Budget ideas due
• Feb. 25 - Budget drop-in session, 11 a.m.
• Feb. 26 - Innovation Fund applications due
• March 1-5 - Leadership Cabinet reviews budget requests to refine the list before Budget Advisory Group (BAG)
• March 9 - BAG scores budget requests, Innovation Team scores innovation ideas
• Date TBD - All-staff forums

Please continue to stay engaged and informed on the budget process. Your voices matter, and your input does make a difference in the hard decisions we will need to make this year.

If you have questions, contact Vice President of College Services Alissa Mahar at 503-594-3009 or alissa.mahar@clackamas.edu.

Best regards,

Tim

Dear colleagues,

Last week Governor Brown released her proposed budget for 2021-23. The good news is that she left the community college support fund (CCSF) at the 2019-21 approved level of $641 million (see page 43). In fact, in a Dec. 1 news conference, Gov. Brown called community colleges the “workhorses” that strive to “make sure communities have access to the skills they need.”

The bad news is that the governor’s proposed budget puts Oregon community college funding $61 million below the $702 million community colleges need to continue current service levels and keep tuition increases to 3.5 percent or below on average statewide.

For Clackamas Community College, these are our forecast scenarios at the governor’s recommended budget:

Scenarios	FY 2021-22 (Budget gap)	FY 2022-23 (Budget gap)
$641M CCSF with $3/credit tuition increase	($3.4 million)	($6.2 million)
$641M CCSF with $5/credit tuition increase	($3 million)	($5.5 million)
$641M CCSF with $7/credit tuition increase	($2.6 million)	($3.5 million)

(Note: These scenarios assume a 10% drop in enrollment in the current year only compared to last year due to COVID-19 ($1.4 million impact), with the caveat that there are savings associated with lower enrollment and fewer employees/students on campus.)

---

The governor’s recommended budget is just the starting point in the state budgeting process. The co-chairs of the state Joint Committee on Ways and Means will release their recommended budget early next year. From there, we will advocate on behalf of community colleges for the $702 million we need. (If you would like to be involved in this work, please contact Lori Hall at lori.hall@clackamas.edu.) The final budget should be approved by legislators in late June.

As the state works through the budgeting process, we will continue our work to correct the structural deficit we have been operating in for the last three years. Depending on state funding and tuition increases by the Board of Education, the college is looking to make budget reductions by a range of $1.8 million to $6.2 million for the 2021-23 biennium.

In the interest of complete transparency, the Executive Team is documenting the budget decision-making process that will outline how decisions will be made. This outline will be shared with the college community and added to the www.clackamas.edu/budget-process webpage once complete.

There will be opportunities to learn more about the budget and engage in this conversation over the upcoming months. Be on the lookout for upcoming College Council meetings, Presidents Council meetings, Board of Education meetings, and budget drop-in sessions. The next budget drop-in session is Thursday, Dec. 17, at noon. Zoom: https://clackamas.zoom.us/j/5035943090.

Spring term

We will remain mostly online for spring term with limited in-person offerings. The deadline to submit return to campus applications is Jan. 8.

Best regards,

Tim

Dear colleagues,

Clackamas Community College’s mission is to provide accessible quality education to the community. This means keeping tuition affordable and offering the courses and services students need. As you know, all of this comes at a cost. Unfortunately, state funding has not kept pace with inflation, and our enrollment has plunged due to COVID-19.

The college has a recent history of declining enrollment, waning student retention, state disinvestment, PERS cost increases, and a structural operating deficit. Last year, we were able to balance our budget by raising tuition, implementing some ongoing budget reductions, and also making one-time reductions, such as sweeping fee funds. You can see a list of those revenue increases and budget reductions on last year’s budget process webpage.

This year, as in previous years, there are a lot – if not more – unknowns. The governor’s proposed budget is expected the first week of December, and then we have the upcoming legislative session, which will determine our funding for the next biennium. As such, we will not have firm information regarding our state funding until late winter term. Even if the legislature holds community colleges harmless in the next budget cycle, the current $641 million (for all community colleges) still falls short of the $701 million needed to fully fund our current service levels.

Taking what we do know, we are expecting to have to reduce our budget by a range of $1.8 million to $6.4 million for fiscal years 2021-23 (see forecast scenarios on the budget process webpage). Please note, these numbers are fluid and will change over the course of the fiscal year, as we receive new information from the state, learn more about enrollment, and assess current year operational spending. As we continue to share information with the college, we are committed to letting you know what factors have caused the forecast numbers to change.

Undergoing budget reductions is never an easy process, but tough decisions will need to be made. I am asking the entire college to participate in this process. This term, the college’s Leadership Cabinet, Executive Team, and Budget Advisory Group developed a set of guiding principles and a Budget Equity Framework, which can be found on this year’s Budget Process webpage.

We will be asking for your suggestions for areas of savings/efficiencies, reductions, innovation, and potential revenues. Also, there will be many opportunities to hear updates, ask questions, and share your ideas at multiple venues, including College Council, Presidents Council, Board of Education meetings, and informal drop-in sessions. Here is the communications plan, which is a living document and subject to change.

Early next year, there will be opportunities for the college community to weigh in on the reductions being considered. Finally, the Board of Education will approve the final budget in June.

I look forward to working collaboratively with the college community to find solutions, stretch our dollars, and think strategically. I am confident we will find the savings we need to balance our budget while still providing the education and services our students deserve.

If you have questions or concerns about this process, please contact Vice President of College Services Alissa Mahar at 503-594-3009 or alissa.mahar@clackamas.edu.

Kind regards,

Tim

Dear CCC Colleagues,

This is a message from the Faculty POR / Faculty Forum subcommittee of the Budget Advisory Group.  We are:  Dustin Bates, Nora Brodnicki, Jason Kovac, Jay Leuck, David Plotkin, Melissa Richardson, Cynthia Risan, and Mark Yannotta.

You have heard through a number of emails and budget forums that there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding our budget.  The College does not know what the state will allocate for community colleges in the next biennium.  Additionally, it is not known when our enrollment will recover to something close to what it was before COVID-19.  There is uncertainty as to whether the federal government will do anything further to support community colleges. 

There will be more financial information to help the College plan in February and March.  Since we have no sense of what our revenues will be, the College cannot guarantee a number of full-time faculty positions that we can fill at this time. Because of these uncertainties, the sub-committee has recommended to the Executive Team that we delay our Faculty Forum process for this year until Spring 2021.  That recommendation was accepted. 

The sub-committee will meet as a group on Monday, November 9^th to develop timelines and refinements to the Faculty Forum process. 

Stay tuned – we will have more information in the coming weeks. 

Faculty Forum Subcommittee of the Budget Advisory Group:

Dustin

Nora

Jason

Jay

David

Melissa

Cynthia

Mark

 

Dear CCC Colleagues, 

Last year, we approved nine faculty positions through the Faculty POR / Faculty Forum process.  We began the hiring process in late January 2020.  The following full-time faculty positions were approved: 

Auto Collision

Biology

Criminal Justice and Human Services

Dental Assistant

Economics

Environmental Science

Manufacturing

Medical Assistant

Nursing Assistant

However, in the spring, because of looming concerns about our budget, we halted the hiring process for 8 of those positions.  Because of where we were in the hiring process, we went forward with hiring a lead for the Dental Assistant program.  This summer, we determined to move forward with a FTF for the Medical Assistant program because of program accreditation requirements. 

There remain seven approved full-time faculty positions whose hiring we have “frozen.”  Because of the hiring cycle for faculty, we have decided to move forward with filling four of those positions:  Biology, Criminal Justice and Human Services, Economics, and Environmental Science.

We will wait on hiring the three positions in Automotive Collision, Manufacturing and Clinical Nursing Assistant because of the effects COVID-19 has had on these programs.  The positions continue to be budgeted and approved.  We will consider moving forward with the hiring process as the pandemic circumstances change.