DCCCD Board approves measures to meet budget shortfall

The board of the Dallas County Community College District unanimously approved three measures to handle budget shortfalls in a regular session on March 1.

The measures include a voluntary retirement incentive program, reducing administrative travel and business allowances by 50 percent and reducing faculty formula pay by 50 percent.

The decisions were made in response to state wide funding cuts to public education. DCCCD could face up to $14 million in cuts each year for the next biennial pending the approval of the state House and Senate budget plans, Dr. Wright Lassiter, chancellor of the DCCCD, said during a luncheon with student journalists on Feb. 28.

The current operating budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year is $500 million. A portion of the budget goes to faculty and employee salaries, which often include additional wages or formula pay.

"In the state of Texas, we are facing an unprecedented and very grim financial reality," Dr. Lassiter said during a working session held prior to the board meeting on March 1. "Informed sources tell me that we have never had to face the situation we now face."

Of the three money-saving recommendations, the voluntary retirement incentive program is projected to be the most beneficial, saving the district $5.1 million to $8.6 million.

To be eligible for the retirement buyout, those interested must meet the requirements of either being 65 years old with at least 10 years of service or meet the "rule of 80", which states that the teacher's age plus years of service must equal at least 80.

There are currently 634 eligible employees in the district who could take the buyout. The district projects that on the low end of the scale, one third, or 209, employees will participate in the retirement incentive resulting in savings of about $5.1 million.

The offer, according to Dr. Lassiter, is "generous", offering 80 percent of the employee's current pay.

There are two set deadlines when the employees can choose to opt. The first deadline requires the employee to elect to retire by May 15 and retire by August 31. If they choose this option, they will receive 80 percent of the annual base pay.

DCCCD board approves measures

to meet budget shortfall

The second option is to elect retirement by Sept. 30 and retire by January 31, 2012. However, if a retiree selects this option, only 50 percent of the annual base pay will be received. The fund balance for this plan comes from colleges and will be repaid through savings.

A reduction in administrative business and travel expenses is estimated to save the district $510,000.

According to the DCCCD Business Procedures Manual, "the business and travel allowance should be used to offset such expenses as in-area mileage, daytime parking, meals and related expenses for individuals, external to the district, who are being entertained, incidental meeting expenses, etc."

Reducing the faculty formula pay by 50 percent is estimated to save the district about $1 million. According to DCCCD's Web site, formula pay "may be used as compensation for non-teaching duties, as approved by the president." Full time faculty is allowed a maximum workload of "six lecture hours or nine lab hours or a combination thereof," and the compensation for the maximum workload "is one sixth of annual contract multiplied by 80 percent."

"[Faculty] could teach two courses at an advanced rate," Dr. Lassiter said. "Our proposal is to reduce that to one course at the advanced rate, and if you were to teach another course, it would be at the adjunct faculty pay rate."

Dr. Lassiter explained that the current adjunct faculty rate for formula pay is about $2,000. Full time instructors teaching one course during a non-traditional semester are paid about $4,000. Under the new measure, faculty teaching a second course would be paid at the adjunct faculty rate for that second course.

Dr. Lassiter said that the district is "only cutting a minimal amount" for the faculty, and there needs to be a "shared sacrifice" between faculty and administrators.

Full-time government professor Kathy Yates agrees with the idea of a shared sacrifice, but would like to see the administration do its part as well.

"I would like to think that the board does really examine other options before they cut we the faculty… that the district has looked closely at making cuts across the board, including administrators, not just faculty and certainly not just professional support staff," Yates said. "That's my big concern."

Tensions over funding cuts have spread throughout the district. On March 2, students and professors at El Centro College organized a walkout against budget cuts, gathering in downtown Dallas to rally in support of the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. Protesters say that the proposed cuts would devastate the public education system.

Members of the board are well aware of the challenges the district faces ahead.

"I understand that some of this is going to be painful," trustee Charletta Rogers Compton said in the board meeting. "This is where we are today, and the bottom line is we have to deal with reality."

(Reporting and writing by: Lindsey Juarez, Managing Editor; Laura Garsea, Viewpoints Editor; Mary Jane Higginbotham and Aileen Donahue, staff writers.)