That's some catch, that Catch-Rag'a'ghu

I’VE BEEN MEANING to mention that, at Tuesday’s meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees (see "We'll find a way"), Trustee Nancy Padberg pressed for information and explanations regarding oddly increasing district—as opposed to Saddleback and Irvine Valley college—expenditures.

This, of course, is the heart of the matter re our “50% Law” fiasco. Chancellor Mathur and company spend taxpayer dollars like a drunken Bush Republican.

Near as I can tell, the “50% Law”—which requires that at least half of expenditures go to instruction—is a good thing, not a bad thing. It motivates districts to expend resources on teaching, not administration. As Bill Jay explained on Tuesday, without that motivation, too many boards hire new administrators instead of creating new instruction. (The 50% Law was enacted in 1961.)

In our present circumstances, of course, we are compelled to take measures that, when seen in isolation, seem flat unfortunate, such as this hasty mass hiring of faculty. But these measures are now embraced or contemplated, not because of the law, but because of Mathur’s mismanagement, his failure to be mindful of the rules.

—In this case: good rules.

Nor should we blame our predicament on ATEP. As far as I’m concerned, ATEP is a good idea, but we’ve got to pursue it prudently. Naturally, Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur, Finger Pointer Extraordinaire, blames our predicament on the allegedly incoherent or contradictory demands of the state. (Tuesday night, Vice Chancellor Gary Poertner seemed to blame our predicament on the state’s unfunded mandates.) But if that were the problem, why aren’t all districts in our predicament? Very few are.

That business about “one turd” of districts or colleges having problems with the 50% Law is at best an exaggeration. It is, in truth, a deliberate distortion by dishonest people who are plainly engaging in CYA. (See Look at the data!)

On Tuesday night, Jay and Padberg wisely pressed to receive some numbers. For as long as we approach our “50%” difficulty simply in terms of “helps and hurts” (see Beth M’s absurd helpful household hints, which seemed to emphasize “reassigned time” while deemphasizing ATEP), we are left with the impression that reassigned time is as significant as ATEP in accounting for our numerator/denominator blues. Nothing could be further from the truth.

No, we need to see the hard numbers that attach to these factors.

Evidently, district personnel are at work providing the numbers. Will the factoids they ultimately provide reflect Mathurian manipulation? Will they be shared with the rest of the district community? We’ll see.

Early indications are that Mathur’s HUGE & HASTY HIRING ORDER (HHHO) is already chaotic and confused.



I suppose that, by now, you’ve heard about the announcement of resignation by Saddleback College’s President, Rich McCullough. McCullough is saying that he’s keeping a promise to retire. What’s really going on here is that McCullough insisted on being the President of his college, and that was unacceptable to Mathur.

Who will replace McCullough? My money’s on that special someone who is willing to accept Mathurian Micromanagement:

“OK, but there’s a catch. You get to be President, but only if you’re willing not to be President. That’s the catch. Got it?”

“Oh sure. That’s some catch, that Catch-Rag'a'ghu.”

"It's the best there is,” said the Gooster, smiling.