"Last Tuesday I read in the LA Times…that the CEO of Morgan Stanley had been asked to resign. As I read that, I was struck by the irony that, in the private sector, when a corporation is experiencing difficulties, the CEO is asked to resign. Apparently, in the public sector, when the corporation is experiencing difficulty, the CEOs are awarded a new contract and a raise….”—An IVC instructor, urging trustees not to grant Chancellor Raghu Mathur a new contract & raise (during the 6/21/05 meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees). Hours later, Mathur was granted a very generous new contract.
ITEM 6.3 of the South Orange County Community College District’s Board of Trustees agenda [pdf file] for the Nov. 13 meeting is: Compliance with the 50% Law.
As you know, the SOCCCD is in the midst of a huge fiscal FUBAR, owing to mismanagement by the district. The 50% Law requires that at least 50% of expenditures (by California school districts, including community colleges) be devoted to "instruction," but, over the last five or so years, the district's instructional expenses have dipped increasingly toward the 50% line and, for 2007-08, those expenses will descend to 46%, according to district projections. (See graphic below.)
It is not clear what this violation will mean for the district and its two colleges (and one park), since, evidently, it is unprecedented for a "basic aid" district (i.e., a district that relies on local property taxes, not state money) to be out of compliance with this law.
MASSIVE HIRING OF FACULTY. In response to this crisis—which, somehow, was recognized only recently—the district is moving toward a huge push for new faculty hires—perhaps 30 at Saddleback College and 15 at Irvine Valley College. Naturally, the hire of full-time faculty is an important and time-consuming process—something that should be done carefully and deliberately, not hurriedly—and thus considerable resistance is growing among faculty to this massive hiring initiative.The Chancellor of the SOCCCD, Raghu P. Mathur, is widely seen as the conservative “board majority’s” hatchet man, one who is willing to do the board’s bidding, even when the bidding involves highly unusual and unpopular (and even illegal) measures.
A few years ago, Mathur received a 94% faculty vote of “no confidence.” It had no evident impact on the Board Majority’s support for Mathur.
Indeed, at the urging of Trustee Tom Fuentes—former head of the Orange County Republican Party—Mathur has been showered with rewards. At present, he receives a salary of about $300,000—an amount that is, at best, unusual for the Chancellor of a district comprising only two campuses. (Naturally, this kind of expenditure only worsens the 50% issue.)Tuesday night’s discussion is liable to be interesting. Just how "fiscally conservative" are these board members? Do they really believe in accountability? Will they fail to state clearly what the data shouts: that their man Mathur has screwed up?
And not just a little!
[Luddites: don't forget to click on the blue words. But skip "agenda."]
