Wyoming Community College Commission th 2300 Capitol Ave., 5 Floor, Suite B, Cheyenne WY 82002 Commissioners Ex-officio Mr. Gregg Blikre, Gillette Governor Mark Gordon Mr. Dennis Boal, Evanston State Superintendent Ms. Katherine Dooley, Powell Jillian Balow Dr. Craig Frederick, Guernsey Executive Director Dr. Jackie Freeze, Rock Springs Dr. Sandra Caldwell Ms. Julia Newman, Torrington Phone: 307-777-7763 Ms. Ember Oakley, Riverton Fax: 307-777-6567 www.communitycolleges.wy.edu To: Joint Appropriations Committee From: Community College Commission, Dr. Sandy Caldwell, Executive Director Community College Commission, Mr. Larry Buchholtz, CFO Subject: Response to Budget Reduction Impacts In response to each of your questions, the following has been provided by the colleges and commission staff: Section 1 Q1. 0600 and 0900 Series compilation submitted under separate cover. Section 2 Q2a. What are the current and/or anticipated operational or structural impacts for the agency? Casper College - • Reorganize continuing education/workforce training (CTE) • Reorganize community education/adult education/ • Reduction of positions in several areas - facilities / • Additional reductions of funds available to replace equipment / renovate space for program requirements • Reorganization of academic affairs/ institutional research/institutional effectiveness (not replace associate vice president, director of assessment) collapse areas o Reduction of department chairs o Reduction of non-instructional time to instructors • Need to recognize the on-going impact of COVID - 19 • Restructure / reorganization of HR / training / • Restructure / reorganization of the grants office • Investigate reduction in benefits to employees (i.e. sun life and LTD) • Increased utilization of part-time faculty Casper College Central Wyoming College Eastern Wyoming College Laramie County Community College Northern Wyoming Community College District Northwest College Western Wyoming Community College • Balancing instructional load to reduce payment of overloads unless it is an absolute necessity and adjunct faculty cannot be recruited • Potential for voluntary separation retirement program – • Review of programs that have had a long history with the college but may no longer be viable as we refocus on preserving our ability to meet our mission and serve our students. • Review structure of insurance coverage(s) in athletic programs may result in a reduction of costs to operations Central Wyoming College – • The current operational budget cut that was implemented for FY 21 was in the amount of $1.1 million. We are aware that this will be a structural cut going forward and have planned accordingly. CWC had to implement a Reduction in Force (RIF) for 3 employees and not replace 7 vacant positions for FY 21 alone. This impacted several strategic and important functions of the college including our Start Up Intensive Program in Jackson (2 positions), two Recruiter positions, three Physical Plant positions, Accounting Technician, Archaeology Field School Coordinator, Institutional Researcher, and Counselor/Disabilities Services Coordinator. This has caused a major shift in duties for functions all across campus as more people are being asked to do more with less. This is not a sustainable solution going forward and the college will have to decide what services we can’t offer in the future due to the limited resources. Eastern Wyoming College – • Between the two reductions, EWC has chosen to not fill four instructor positions. The Dean position was also eliminated. Further, a vacant student success position was not filled. Due to previous reductions in instructors, the overload budget has increased substantially. It is proposed that this expense be cut in half. All these changes affect students directly. • In addition, an administrative assistant position, a graphic design position and four part- time positions were eliminated. • Expense budgets were cut in order to meet the expected reductions in State funding. The initial reduction included a six percent cut across the expense budgets. The next proposed decrease is another two percent of these expense budgets. Thus, employees are expected to maintain superior services with less funding. • Next, the proposed cuts also include a reduction in athletic scholarships. This changes the focus and philosophy of EWC’s athletic department. The type and number of student athletes at EWC will change. • Finally, up until now, EWC has paid 100% of the employee’s retirement contribution. With the proposed cuts, employees will contribute 3.43% of their retirement contribution. Casper College Central Wyoming College Eastern Wyoming College Laramie County Community College Northern Wyoming Community College District Northwest College Western Wyoming Community College This means that employees will have a reduction in take home pay. The trial is that due to the reductions, more is expected of employees and yet their take home pay is being affected. Laramie County Community College – Added as an attachment Northwest College – • Northwest College is in the process of performing a full analysis of its current and anticipated operational and structural impacts in regards to its FY 2022 budget. Northwest College is evaluating the governor’s 15% proposed reduction in State Funding. In addition, Park County mill valuation is expected to decrease 10%. The overall reduction to Northwest College’s budget is expected to be around $3.2M. This reduction is prior to any reduction in enrollment due to less high school graduates within the Big Horn Basin, increased high school student enrollment in dual and concurrent courses, lingering impacts related to COVID-19, and students not looking to attend college farther from home. This combination of reductions will result in further lost positions and the ability to service our community. Northwest College is in it’s 3rd round of budget reductions over the past three years. Operation reductions mean reduced maintenance, and capital decay. The College has already lost a large number of employees to budgetary cuts and is experiencing ongoing operational strain to maintain services. Northern Wyoming Community College District – • The majority of the costs of our college district fund the salary and benefits of our personnel. Therefore, it is here that we look to reduce expenses when faced with a multimillion-dollar loss of revenue due to COVID-19 and the 10% reduction in state funding. Personnel resources are key to building and maintaining a vibrant, accredited, exceptional institution of higher education. Ideally, institutions hire and retain fulltime, credentialed faculty with terminal degrees in their fields to provide expert content knowledge; or, they hire those working toward these standards of excellence. To support faculty in their pursuits ultimately benefits our students and our workforce. However, our financial obligations are not only academic in nature. Of paramount importance are the health, safety, and wellbeing of our students. We have amplified our cleaning efforts to do what we can to mitigate the threat of coronavirus on our campuses. Additionally, we are obligated to address the ever-changing world of data security, predictive analytics, and keeping up with software needs. Federal regulations also require the utmost compliance with the Cleary Act, Title IX, and other federal regulations (Title IV, Title V, etc.). These priorities co-exist, yet they compete for our resources. • To address budget reductions, the NWCCD Board declared financial exigency in June 2020. Upon approval of the fiscal year 2021 budget on July 1, 2020, the Board approved a reduction in force of 16 positions. 4 positions were eligible for the Early Retirement Incentive Program. 12 positions were eligible for a severance package. • The 16 positions eliminated, by category: Casper College Central Wyoming College Eastern Wyoming College Laramie County Community College Northern Wyoming Community College District Northwest College Western Wyoming Community College o 11 professional, non-faculty (9 athletics, 1 police chief, 1 AgriPark) o 3 staff (2 police officers, 1 Sheridan College in Johnson County coordinator) o 2 faculty (culinary/hospitality) • The 16 positions eliminated, by campus location: • 10 positions at Sheridan College • 5 positions at Gillette College • 1 position at Sheridan College in Johnson County • On August 11, 2020, the board approved early retirement for an additional 22 positions. These employees will be retiring between 8-11-2020 and 12-31-2021. Current estimates are that no more than 40% of these positions will be refilled upon the retirements. o Currently, we estimate that an additional 6 faculty members will depart the district at the end of the academic year in May 2021. It is likely that we will not rehire these positions as fulltime, tenure-track faculty. NWCCD eliminated seven open positions through an administrative reorganization and assigning new responsibilities to existing staff. Further trimming of our budget involved the loss of our motor pool and the sale of our vehicles used for traveling the 100 or so miles between campuses and for professional development opportunities. • Taken together, and depending on the number of positions we rehire vacated due to retirement, we feel a conservative estimate of the number of full time positions we are eliminating to be approximately 40 or about 14% of our fulltime workforce. • Operational and structural impacts are the elimination