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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

SFCC trims summer classes to save money as two-year schools grapple with funding challenges

Tamara Conger with Community Colleges of Spokane helps Kohl Harvey, center, red, and his buddies Chris Haechler, left, and Owen Atchison, right, sign up for classes during an enrollment fair June 22, 2017 at Spokane Falls Community College. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

To cope with a mix of financial problems, Spokane Falls Community College is offering fewer summer classes compared to last year.

It’s one of many areas where the Community Colleges of Spokane – the district that includes SFCC and Spokane Community College – has tightened its belt. On top of an expensive legal settlement last year and the flawed rollout of a new software system, college administrators say state funding has not kept pace with expenses.

“There’s not much more we can reduce without really impacting the quality of education that we offer,” said CCS Chancellor Christine Johnson.

Adjusted for inflation, Washington’s 34 community colleges are operating with roughly the same level of state funding they received in 2007, Laura McDowell, spokeswoman for the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges, wrote in an email. The past year’s operating budgets totaled $727 million; a decade ago they totaled $724 million.

As a result, McDowell said, colleges have cut back advising and tutoring services, limited course offerings and delayed adding classes that are in high demand.

“A cut or even stagnant funding at this point would be damaging to our students and our economy,” she said. “Right now, all of the community colleges are anxiously waiting for the Legislature to pass a budget.”

CCS already has cut some staff and faculty positions and consolidated several administrative posts in response to an $8 million deficit announced a little over a year ago. Some 85 percent of the district’s operating budget covers personnel costs, Johnson said.

She said the district has reduced three presidential jobs to two; the role of overseeing college branches in other towns, like Pullman and Ione, has been added to the workload of administrators in Spokane. Similarly, two of six vice presidential positions are unfilled, she said.

The Pullman branch was in jeopardy of closing last year, but CCS later managed to relocate some classes to the Washington State University campus.

SFCC’s acting president, Darren Pitcher, said the college is offering 208 course sections this summer, down from 270 last year. Most of those sections will be taught online, Pitcher said, because the school is shutting down buildings to reduce energy costs.

Most of the same subjects will be covered, and the school will serve nearly as many students, while saving upward of $100,000, he said. The summer quarter will begin July 3.

“We looked at our data from the past three years and picked out the classes that we knew we could fill to at least 20 students,” Pitcher said. “We stripped the classes that we knew we couldn’t fill.”

“Summer,” he added, “is notorious for having classes with four students in them, which is really expensive for us” because instructors must be paid the same wages regardless of how many students enroll in their classes.

During the fall, winter and spring quarters, SFCC will “ramp up” its course offerings, Pitcher said. “Deans make the call to run low-enrolled classes based on their department budgets.”

The school hosted an enrollment fair on Thursday. Across the district, enrollment dropped 2 percent last year, in line with a statewide trend.

Still, Jenni Martin, the vice president of enrollment for CCS, said she anticipates an enrollment boost in the near future, particularly in the apprenticeship and vocational programs at SCC.

“We’re optimistic that we’ve seen the bottom and our enrollment will start to increase again,” Martin said.

Washington’s community colleges have taken a series of financial hits in recent years.

Three years ago, the Legislature began requiring colleges to give raises to faculty and staff but didn’t fully fund the pay increases, forcing the colleges to pay out of their reserves or cut positions.

Last year, the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges changed how it distributes funding, prioritizing colleges that offer workforce training and adult basic education. Smaller schools generally fare better under the new formula, while larger ones have seen their share of state funding reduced.

Meanwhile, the installation of a $100 million software system across the state’s community college system may run up to $15 million over budget due to a series of delays. Technical glitches in the ctcLink system came to light in 2015, when the installation was already a year behind schedule.

The company tasked with installing the system, Colorado-based Ciber Inc., filed for bankruptcy in April, then sued the state for breach of contract for withholding $13 million in payments. CtcLink is designed to tie together most scheduling and financial functions for community college students and employees.

And a class-action settlement reached last year required Washington to pay $80 million to part-time state employees who claimed they were wrongfully omitted from employer-paid health insurance. Of that, the state’s community colleges had to pay $13.4 million.

“The community college system has really lost ground at a time when it’s really critical to prepare people for the workforce,” Johnson said. “The state needs to invest for the workforce it needs right now – and for the future.”