The district has a problem

WEDNESDAY'S "OPEN FORUM" concerning the SOCCCD's noncompliance with the “50% law" was good in every way that I can think of. Standing before a relatively large gathering of college personnel, Irvine Valley College President Glenn Roquemore briefly explained our situation, namely, that the proportion of our expenditures on “instruction” has dipped below 50%, contrary to requirements defined by statute.

He seemed to indicate that the DRAC (the District Resources Allocation Committee, which comprises faculty reps, among others) is the venue in which a “fix” will be developed, and that’s good news, for some of us had worried that Chancellor Raghu Mathur intends to blow off shared governance as per usual. Not so, apparently.

District Director of Fiscal Services, Beth Mueller, was on hand to answer questions, and, I have to say, she seemed to answer our queries forthrightly and to the best of her ability. And there were lots of questions, good ones.

IVC Director of Fiscal Services, Davit Khachatryan, gave a helpful PowerPoint presentation. Our district, he said, is out of compliance with Education Code 8462 for 2006/07, though not by much. According to the latest figures—provided by Beth—we’re at 49.76%. We're talkin' $257,000 — far less than, say, the Chancellor's inexplicably high salary.

That sounds like an insignificant amount in the grand scheme of things, but, for a variety of reasons, a fix will be very difficult, and the consequences of not fixing the problem will be serious.


If we fail to correct the matter, state apportionment funding will be withdrawn, despite our Basic Aid funding.

Davit listed numerous actions that could be taken by the college that would “help,” including faculty salary increases and new faculty hiring. Among the various other helpful actions, Davit seemed to favor adding more classes at ATEP, our district’s new instructional site in Tustin, though that suggestion proved to be somewhat controversial. There was lots of discussion and, for once, it wasn't silly.

The district is applying for a one-time waiver (re the 50% requirement), which is granted only in cases of extreme hardship or when faculty salaries are high compared to neighboring districts. Given our district’s healthy finances, we cannot plausibly claim hardship. When pressed, Beth opined that, if we seek a waiver, claiming the second condition would seem to be the more promising approach.

The audience looked skeptical.

Wendy asked Beth whether the district views our being granted a waiver as likely. Beth said she didn’t know.

But the facts seem to be clear enough. We likely won’t qualify for a waiver. So we have a real problem.

Some members of the audience (including me) pressed to learn how the noncompliance could have been allowed to occur, given that the district moved steadily downward toward the 50% line for the last five years. Our crossing over that line didn't just suddenly happen. But administrators generally deflected such questions.

(Recently, one of our readers [who writes often and knowledgeably] posted this remark:

All community college districts must file a budget report with the State of California each year. It's called the CCFS 311, and it's due every October 15. Part of this form — and your CFO and CEO must verify its accuracy under penalty of perjury — includes the 50% rule calculation.

If your Chancellor is unaware of this, then he hasn't been reading what he's been signing. (End)

— The State Chancellor's Office has this form. It's a PDF file. Check it out.)


It does seem clear that this "new" problem — the Chancellor insists that it was discovered "just last month"— is a DISTRICT problem.

It will be interesting to see whether and how the Chancellor will explain this nasty little predicament, come Monday night.

I’ll be watching Raghu’s pointing finger.

You know the one.

P.S.: I do believe that another "forum" will be held this morning (Thursday) at 9:30. LIB 213.

GRATUITOUS IMAGERY:

Kids whispering at last week's IVC 9-11 ceremony.

Sunny the cat poking around near my chifforobe.