Community colleges may cut scores of classes

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

Hawai'i's community colleges may have to eliminate hundreds of classes this year because of spending restrictions and workload reductions for faculty.

The biggest impact may come in the spring semester, when scores of classes could disappear from the schedules.

While a new round of spending restrictions was imposed by Gov. Linda Lingle in July, the campuses are just beginning to get a sense of how serious they may be.

Spending restrictions cover money that has been budgeted but cannot be spent, by the governor's order.

Spending restrictions throughout the 10-campus system amount to $10 million, but community colleges are being hit particularly hard because the cuts come on top of faculty workload reductions required under a new contract.

The contract requires more people to do the same amount of work, so additional money was needed to keep pace with the number of classes offered last year.

Campuses are scrambling to come up with creative ways to minimize the class cuts, but projections show cuts are unavoidable.

• At Leeward Community College, which has a spending restriction of $332,000, 35 classes were cut for the fall semester and 70 more could be cut in the spring if conditions do not change, said Doug Dykstra, interim chief academic officer for the campus. LCC offers about 1,600 classes per year.
• At Honolulu Community College, chancellor Ramsey Pedersen has cut about 40 classes this semester and expects to eliminate another 40 next semester. The college has a $350,000 spending restriction.
• Windward Community College projects cutting 25 of about 200 classes next semester — the first time the school has had to cut classes. Windward's spending restriction is $148,000.

Top officials from every school met yesterday to look at ways to consolidate classes while keeping curriculum intact, so students don't lose essential courses or put their graduation at risk.

They are looking at combining less-popular classes, coordinating distance learning between campuses and asking faculty to do more.

"I have about $100,000 to run a spring schedule that usually costs around $750,000," said LCC's Dykstra.

But David McClain, vice president for academic affairs for the 10-campus system, said the situation is fluid. He chaired yesterday's meeting.

At LCC, the projected spring cuts are better than the "worst-case scenario" that faculty were given late last week. Those projections cut 250 classes during the year.

That plan has been modified, Dykstra said, because faculty agreed to take more students in each class next semester; courses taught by lecturers will be required to have a certain enrollment level so tuition will cover them; and some money is being returned to the campus. Dykstra also holds out hope the spending restrictions might be eased.

But even if the governor releases that money, Dykstra said he still will have to rely on "creative staffing" to offer the usual number of courses.

Cuts at Windward Community College will be some of the hardest to make, because enrollment there is growing.

"Normally, we have about 200 classes in the spring," said Steve Nakasone, director of administrative services for the Windward campus. "As it stands right now, we're cancelling about 25 classes in the spring. That's our projection."

The tight financial picture is complicated by the fact that the school faces growing maintenance costs for new facilities, ranging from a center for the arts to its Imaginarium.

"Even without the governor's restrictions, it was a tight year for us," Nakasone said. "But the biggest item that would cost us is the faculty workload reduction. We calculated that to be about 10 classes right now."

A workload reduction agreement for community college faculty was hailed as a breakthrough when it was signed in the spring by the University of Hawai'i and its faculty union, the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly.

"That called for all faculty who teach 15 credits one semester to get a three-credit teaching reduction the second semester," said Mike Rota, vice chancellor for academic affairs for the community colleges.

At Honolulu Community College, which offers the bulk of the state's vocational and trade school programs, chancellor Pedersen said repair and maintenance projects might be deferred, or supplies cut, to maintain as many classes as possible.

"We either take it out of repairs and let the buildings rot again, or cut back on classes," he said. "We're looking at $350,000 or so in the governor's restrictions, and around $200,000 to cover the workload reduction, so over half a million dollars in income loss."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.