by Steve Thomas, Ph.D.
Midland College President
The news from Austin is about the same. The Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) and individual community colleges provided testimony to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Appropriations Committee to explain the fall-out for local communities should we lose $5-$7 million as currently proposed. The Committees are wrestling with a huge budget deficit and they have no answers other than Cut! Cut! Cut!
During the Senate Finance Committee hearings, the most telling comment came from Senator John Whitmire from Houston who stated that community colleges have always figured out a way to continue to grow and serve students even with reductions in state appropriation, so what makes this any different? Ouch! What makes this different is the severity of the cuts.
The other telling comment came from Representative Jim Pitts, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who said that the sound of silence was deafening in terms of community support for community colleges. In other words they are not receiving any push back from community leaders. To that end, I have prepared a "snapshot" of Midland College concerning the salient issues for this legislative session, and this will be mailed to every friend of Midland College that we can identify with a letter soliciting their support through letters and phone calls to our elected officials.
In the meantime, we are working on the MC budget for 2011-2012 with a number of unknowns, but our approach will be to make up the deficit in three ways: increase tuition and fees, generate more revenue from ad valorem taxes and make strategic cuts in expenditures. Each of these will cover about a third of the total deficit (as currently projected).
I believe that the state budget will improve slightly before a final appropriation bill is passed, but we simply have to plan for the worst case scenario at this time and hopefully make positive adjustments when possible. Unfortunately, there are some very difficult decisions ahead, and I appreciate your support and cooperation. Please contact me if you have questions or concerns.
Steve
Midland College President
The news from Austin is about the same. The Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) and individual community colleges provided testimony to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Appropriations Committee to explain the fall-out for local communities should we lose $5-$7 million as currently proposed. The Committees are wrestling with a huge budget deficit and they have no answers other than Cut! Cut! Cut!
During the Senate Finance Committee hearings, the most telling comment came from Senator John Whitmire from Houston who stated that community colleges have always figured out a way to continue to grow and serve students even with reductions in state appropriation, so what makes this any different? Ouch! What makes this different is the severity of the cuts.
The other telling comment came from Representative Jim Pitts, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who said that the sound of silence was deafening in terms of community support for community colleges. In other words they are not receiving any push back from community leaders. To that end, I have prepared a "snapshot" of Midland College concerning the salient issues for this legislative session, and this will be mailed to every friend of Midland College that we can identify with a letter soliciting their support through letters and phone calls to our elected officials.
In the meantime, we are working on the MC budget for 2011-2012 with a number of unknowns, but our approach will be to make up the deficit in three ways: increase tuition and fees, generate more revenue from ad valorem taxes and make strategic cuts in expenditures. Each of these will cover about a third of the total deficit (as currently projected).
I believe that the state budget will improve slightly before a final appropriation bill is passed, but we simply have to plan for the worst case scenario at this time and hopefully make positive adjustments when possible. Unfortunately, there are some very difficult decisions ahead, and I appreciate your support and cooperation. Please contact me if you have questions or concerns.
Steve
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