SCC relieved at results of special session - cuts not as deep

Shoreline Community College administrators, faculty, and staff are relieved that the special legislative session this weekend did not make the deep cuts that had been feared, holding the reduction in budget at 3.8%.

President Lambert said, “Obviously, we’ve done a lot of planning for much deeper cuts. Now, we have to decide which pieces will be used. I’ll ask the vice presidents this week for recommendations.”

Lambert said that layoffs and at least some of the other planned budget-reduction strategies are on hold for the balance of this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2011.

He warned that this deep cuts are still coming in the 2011-2013 budget, perhaps as much as 18%.

“We don’t know yet what’s in store for the next biennium, but it doesn’t look good,” Lambert said. “If it is as bad as they say, we’ll be right back here, looking at significant layoffs and serving fewer students.”

The irony of cuts to community colleges is that when people lose their jobs, they often look to the colleges for retraining in different professions.  So when the need is the greatest, the resources are reduced.

Read more in the SCC blog 

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