Positive Budget News – and Warm Holiday Wishes
Dec. 13, 2018
Dear Colleagues,
As promised in yesterday's email, I'm writing you today about the budget. As you know from Chancellor Miner's email on Monday evening, the board of trustees approved the Supplementary Retirement Plan (SRP), which 23 De Anza faculty members and 29 classified professionals are participating in. This will be a dramatic change for the college as longtime, experienced colleagues leave us to begin the next phase of their lives. Significantly, it also means that we will not need to lay off any classified professionals at De Anza College. I hope this news will bring some relief as we head toward the winter holidays.
While many of these classified professional positions must be filled in order to properly serve students, not filling some of them -- or some other vacant positions -- and doing the work differently, will close the gap in our budget reduction plans. We will hold a Joint Planning and Budget Teams/College Council meeting on Thursday, January 10, at 3 p.m., to discuss the specifics.
I know this has been a very challenging time for the college. The PBTs began their work to address an $8.8 million cut last year, and reviewed numerous programs and departments campuswide. After many shared governance meetings, discussions and votes, it became clear that we could not meet the full reduction without making serious cuts to programs and numbers of employees. However, with the SRP, we will not need to cut more deeply at this time. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the members of our Instructional, Student Services, and Administrative Services PBTs, along with our Senate and bargaining group leaders, who were instrumental in our budget reduction work.
My very best wishes for a wonderful holiday season for you and your families. I hope to see you at our holiday reception shortly, and if you are able, please consider a donation to help those whose lives were affected by the Camp Fire in Butte County. Thank you.
Kindly,
Christina
Christina G. Espinosa-Pieb
(Pronouns: She/Her/Hers/Herself/Ella)
Interim President