Staff Report
The layoffs at the Kentucky Community & Technical College System as a result of state budget cuts came home to Gateway yesterday when ten staff members were told their jobs were being eliminated.
A report earlier this month by WFPL in Louisville reported that cutbacks were coming as a result of — “a ‘perfect storm’ of sustained budget cuts and dwindling enrollment” — at the 16 community college campuses across the state.
Terri Giltner, a spokesperson for KCTCS, told WFPL that each college was developing its own plan to deal with the 4.5 percent slash in state funding for higher education over the next two years.
“We have had to make some tough decisions in the past few weeks, the most difficult related to our staff and faculty. These are decisions no one wants to make,” said Dr. Vic Adams, Gateway’s interim president.
“Significant cuts in our state appropriation, declining enrollment and increases in fixed costs have forced Gateway to determine a way to reduce costs while still providing high quality service to students. With over 70 percent of our unrestricted budget in salaries, unfortunately, further cuts mean positions,” Adams said.
“Vacant positions were reviewed to see if we could operate without them. As a result, a number of positions will go unfilled, but sadly, this was not enough to make up the gap. Ten full-time employees had to be let go.”
Adams assumed the interim president position on April 1 while a search is underway for the position. He stepped in at a time when budget decisions have to be made.
Adams is also challenged in regard to budgets related to programs and course offerings. He sent this email message to the Gateway community last week:
“In order that we may provide the most relevant programs and course offerings to our students, Gateway does an annual programs review. This process is an extensive review of our programs in relation to college enrollment trends and labor market data. In addition, we seek input from program advisory committees.
“Based on the most recent programs review, we have decided to suspend enrollment in Computer Aided Drafting & Design (CAD), Visual Communications, Pharmacy Technology and Exercise Science, effective summer 2016. This decision was based strictly on the criteria mentioned above and is not related to current budget challenges.
“All students currently enrolled in any of these programs of study will be able to complete their program. The dean or a faculty member of the programs will contact each student by April 30, to schedule a meeting regarding individual completion plans.
“If in the future it is determined by expressed interest and the data listed above that one of these suspended programs is in demand, we will evaluate the opportunity at that time.
“Please know Gateway is committed to making sure each student has access to get what he or she needs for successful completion. Service to students and industry partners is our top priority.”
Jeff Groob, chair of the Gateway board of directors, said the board was not consulted on the decisions to cut programs or lay off staff. He said the layoffs included no senior administrators although the staff person in charge of Transfer Services, the registrar and the coordinator of orientation and student affairs — all “student-facing people” were among those who were let go.
“These decisions were made behind closed doors without outside input,” said Groob, on behalf of the board. “It is not clear to us whether there are faculty reductions still to come.
“We believe the KCTCS bureaucracy should exhaust every opportunity for cutting its administrative and facility overhead before laying off student-facing faculty and staff.
“We should not burden students with tuition increases masquerading as fees. Any increase in the cost of attending community college depresses enrollment and drowns in debt the students we are here to serve. Such actions weaken the quality and size of Kentucky’s workforce, and cripple employers.
“A fundamental rethinking and restructuring of Kentucky’s community college system is in order. What made sense in 1997 when KCTCS was founded may no longer work in 2016. The need for us to to do more with less is the new normal, and short-term fixes don’t solve long-term problems.”
maybe a hard look at what the presidents of each of these school, the kctcs president and all their asst. See what their salaries are, the have nothing to do with the hands on daily teaching of these kids, keep the teachers and get rid of these money leaches on the state and kctcs budget.