SCC calls all-campus meeting for Friday, December 10

Shoreline Community College has called an all-campus meeting for Friday, December 10 from 12:30 - 2 pm in the PUB Main Dining Room, regarding the current budget cuts and layoff process.

Administrators are cautiously optimistic about the special session the Governor has announced for the legislature before Christmas, thinking that it could delay the layoffs announced last week for staff, faculty and administrators.

“There have been proposals from both Republicans and Democrats that call for honoring the maintenance-of-effort threshold,” Lambert said. “We weren't expecting that, but if it’s the case, and there are no other serious reductions, we may be able to hold off … for now.”

Maintenance of effort (MOE) refers to a requirement agreed to by state officials as a condition of accepting federal stimulus funds back in 2008. “If the MOE holds, we might be looking at a cut of about 4 percent instead of almost 11 percent,” Lambert said.

If it does happen, the reprieve would be short-lived.

“The state is still projecting huge deficits, $5.7 billion, for the coming biennium,” Lambert said. “The (State Board for Community and Technical Colleges) told us last week that cuts starting July 1, 2011 could hit 18 percent. We couldn’t avoid job losses at that level.”

To that end, Lambert said that notification of employees regarding potential layoff will continue, a process that started last week and is ongoing.

“We notified both the faculty and classified unions. We are speaking to administrators about the potential for layoff,” he said. “If things go well, we may be able to put off those reductions for awhile. If not, we’ll be in a position to move quickly and avoid going any deeper than absolutely necessary.”

 Information from the SCC Blog