An Immodest Proposal

At the beginning of this semester, the Rio Hondo College community was warned that more class sections might be cut.  This is in addition to the 150 sections cut in the spring of 2010. 

Here's what Superintendent Ted Martinez, Jr. said in the 2009 "Report to the Community," the college's annual report:

Our ability to persevere in the face of difficulty is possible because the college has been conservative in its fiscal management through the years, and because our college community has come together to innovate and save resources in order to reduce the number of class sections that might otherwise be eliminated. As a result of our efforts, we have had to reduce the spring 2010 by just 2.5 percent (approximately 150 class sections) compared to 2009… Our desire is to keep the doors to higher education open and to leverage our resources as efficiently as possible.

In Friday's Whittier Daily News, the college's marketing director, Susan Herney commented "Our fiscal management is very close. We run a lean operation, administratively, so we don't have a lot of area to cut."

So the first area to cut would be to the very core of the college's existence - courses for students.

I have an idea.  Rio Hondo College no longer offers classes during the winter intersession.  Let's furlough the Superintendent.  That one month would save approximately $25,000.  Furlough the three Vice-Presidents, and at least an additional $45,000 is saved.  Add in the rest of the Superintendent's Cabinet (Director of Human Resources, Director of Marketing & Communications, Director of Facilities, Dean of Institutional Research and Planning, and the Director of Government & Community Relations) and save another $60,000.

That's $130,000.  Enough to save 26 sections.

http://www.smithsonianlegacies.si.edu/photos/29.jpg

Want to save more?  There are 15 Dean positions, 12 Director/Supervisor positions, and 3 consultants serving in Dean/Director positions.  Potentially, $300,000 can be saved here.

So what will the college do?  Cut classes and make it harder for students to get degrees and credentials and to transfer.  Fire Non-reemploy retirees who teach part-time.  Prevent faculty from teaching overload.


But will our "lean" top-level administration see any cuts?