**Correction: The print edition incorrectly attributed this story to Jack Bouchard.
Following a “February Surprise,” the State Center Community College District convened a District Budget Task Force last week to address the roughly $3.5 million needed to be cut from the 2011-2012 budget.
The multi-million dollar shortfall arose from an unexpected $149 million across-the-board cut to California’s community colleges. SCCCD’s share of that cut was about $3.5 million, Fresno City College Student Trustee Chris Coronado said.
Created by Chancellor Deborah Blue, the task force is charged with recommending changes to the budget while allowing the various constituents and constituency groups to collaborate on finding a solution to the current year budget deficit. The only portion of the budge off-limits to the task force is employee-related budget items.
“I’m happy that the district is responding,” Coronado said about the budget deficit. “And we at ASG are happy that the district is being inclusive in the process.”
Coronado added that the task force avoids a top-down approach to budgeting.
The makeup of the advisory task force includes three students from Fresno City College, Reedley College and Willow International, three administrators to represent student services and instruction, three union leaders and six members of college and campus budget committees (with two members each from Fresno City, Reedley College and Willow International).
The last set of reductions approved by the district was the mid-year reduction plan, which cut $2.5 million.
Initially, that plan would have eliminated most of summer school, but received serious blowback from students and was revised before being approved by the board of trustees.
A task force significantly differs from a committee, in that its meetings are not public and its discussions are never released to the public until it makes recommendations to the district’s communication council, Coronado said.
Coronado wouldn’t comment on the cuts that were discussed during the task force’s first meeting last week.
During a meeting in early March, the district Board of Trustees adopted five guiding principles for the budgeting process, including the task force’s process — align program and staffing to core mission, focus on student completion, maximize student access, maintain financial stability, and maximize operational efficiencies.
While balancing the current year’s $3.5 million reduction, the task force will also address an impending cut of $15 million for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, Fresno City College Academic Senate President Claudia Habib said.
Before a recommendation heads to the district’s communications council, the task force has a number of four-hour meetings over the next week and into Spring Break to discuss the various cuts that could be made in both budgets.