Staff and faculty at Western Wyoming Community College are calling for alternatives to a plan they claim will lead to undue stress for employees laid off by the college.
According to a release from the Education Association at WWCC, more than 20 college employees are expected to be laid off as the college contends with a growing deficit as a result of economic impacts the state is weathering as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Those layoffs are anticipated to take place at the end of the academic semester, which college employees cited by the association say make it hard for them to find alternate work or relocate prior to the end of the academic year.
However, the college’s president said the mid-year cuts are needed if the college is to find a way to overcome a $875,000 budget deficit.
“Mid-year layoffs will be financially devastating,” Angela Thatcher, WWCC sociology professor and President of the Education Association at WWCC said. “The Education Association at WWCC’s hope is that we can find a way to partner with the college in finding solutions to make these layoffs less devastating for employees, students, and the community, as well as for the college itself.”
Dana Pertermann, an associate professor teaching anthropology and geology at WWCC said she would not have the ability to find a new job with the current economy in the state.
“Because I’m in academe, I probably won’t be able to find a job until next fall,” she said.
She supports her family of four after her husband was diagnosed with two different forms of cancer and they make use of Pertermann’s college-provided insurance as she still receives treatments and is unable to work.
“There are a lot of unknowns right now, and I don’t feel like College administrators have considered enough factors,” Pertermann said. “I understand that they’re having a budget crisis. But, I don’t feel like the administration has pushed back enough at the state level.”
Kim Dale, the college’s president said the state’s community colleges were informed appropriations for the 2020-2021 budget, which started in July, would be reduced by 10% because of the state’s $1.25 billion budget shortfall. The college’s deadline to adopt a budget was July 15, which Dale said left the college board and administrators little time to make nearly $1 million in cuts.
The budget they approved utilized $639,286 in reserves with the intention of cutting the budget during the year to recapture those reserves.
“The reason we took this approach is because the board and administration felt strongly that a transparent, collaborative process needed developed to create rubrics that identify criteria for analyzing academic and non-academic program/services for potential cuts,” Dale stated in an email to the Star.
Two teams worked on the rubrics which Dale’s cabinet of administrators plan to use in cutting the budget. She said the review of both those rubrics and supporting data will take place during the next two weeks.
Thatcher said mid-year layoffs will have spiralling consequences for those involved and the college’s education association want to suggest other options to the layoffs, such as temporary pay cuts for employees earning certain amounts, voluntary pay cuts and stipends to employees who opt to leave WWCC voluntarily.
Dale said the initial college budget called for a 9% reduction to the general fund, which included a 10% across-the-board cut all line items and said administrators were able to find an additional $316,000 in savings through cuts to nonathletic scholarships, cutting a dean-level position, cuts to strategic initiatives and the initiation of a college-wide travel ban. Additionally, a vice president position remains open, with Dale and other vice president dividing the responsibilities to help save money.
However, because of the additional cuts called for by the state, the college has a $875,000 deficit and 80% of the college’s budget being spent on salaries and benefits.
“... it is unlikely we can find this amount without a mid-year reduction in force,” Dale said.
Another cut being considered is to the college’s degree paths. Dale said college enrollment has declined for the past decade, leading to several programs graduating a few students each year.
“We will need to examine these program data and make decisions based on what we call H3 factors -- high wage, high skill, high demand,” Dale said.
A virtual college board meeting is scheduled to take place Thursday at 7:15 p.m. Thatcher is urging residents to show they care about the college and its employees by attending the meeting.
“Our community deserves better, and I believe that we can achieve better by working creatively together,” she said.
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