In response to Dr. Bennings’ message about budget cuts

November 20, 2024

Dear Colleagues:

I wanted to respond to Dr. Bennings’ email yesterday announcing an anticipated $14M in budget cuts for the 2025-27 biennium. $14 Million is a lot of money, but it represents just 2% of PCC’s 2023-25 biannual budget.

For some more perspective, let’s remember that PCC has three main sources of revenue.

1. Student tuition and fees account for one-third of PCC’s budget. Enrollment is trending up, by the administration’s own account. An October email from PCC’s Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management and Strategy pointed to “overall gains and exceeding our enrollment goals for college-wide headcount and FTE.”
2. Property taxes are a reliable, stable, and increasing source of funding for PCC, accounting for 17% of the College’s revenue.
3. The biggest revenue uncertainty is state funding for community colleges. We do not yet know how much funding our legislators will allocate to higher ed in the 2025 legislative session. But the economy in Oregon is strong, which bodes well for community colleges.

In the past 10 years, PCC has added 87 new manager positions (+43%) and increased spending on management salaries by 88%. Meanwhile, Faculty and APs continued to be overworked and understaffed. It’s worth asking: are these the actions of an administration trying to reduce spending:

• In FY 2024, 43% of new hires at PCC were managers, administrators, or confidential employees.
• In July, PCC managers received an 11.5% salary increase.
• In September, the PCC Board of Directors approved a salary increase of 9% for President Bennings, bringing her annual salary to $366,346. This is in addition to an annual automobile allowance of $18,000 and an annual general expense allowance of $12,000. Dr. Bennings’ monthly gross income of $30,528 is more than many of our Part Time Faculty colleagues make in a year!

If you have been at PCC for awhile, you will notice that these doom and gloom messages about the PCC budget usually arrive in our inboxes right as the unions are preparing to negotiate salary and benefits. The game plan, of course, is to instill the fear of layoffs and lower our expectations at the bargaining table.

If the administration really wanted to reduce spending, they might begin with a careful look at the explosion in management positions over the last ten years. Say it with us (and download this Zoom background!) Chop from the top!

In solidarity,

Ben Cushing, FFAP President