Fears and Realities--Recession and SACS
Recession
During our last frantic days of registration before classes began, a faculty advisor made the remark that "it looks like the recession is here" as last minute scholars swarmed around the Educational Resources Center. I think the faculty member is correct. Our experience has been that as people lose jobs or become concerned about their jobs they shore up their skills with education and training. Our last minute registration surge could very well be a result of job loss or concern about job security. Overall, our FTE enrollment increased by 6.25 percent this spring over last spring semester. Good news for the college, but we don't know what it means for the overall economy.
Budget Message
The Governor's message last night strengthened the case for recession. It was actually a somber message for the state of Tennessee's higher education community. With no new operating dollars proposed and no new capital projects proposed either, it is the slimmest of all projections, and actually means that we will have less money from the state to spend next year when you factor inflation into the mix. Just like at home, it costs the college more for electricity and gasoline each year, and our expenditures are quite large, over a million dollars just to pay our electric bill alone.
However, it wasn't a budget cut in the strictest sense of the word, and for that I am very grateful. It was not all that long ago that we did cut our state budget by 9 percent and that is something I don't ever want to repeat as a college president. Although we didn't cut any faculty slots during that time, we cut back sharply on staff positions, and I don't think that we have ever fully recovered from that loss. I am very glad to be spared real budget cuts this time around.
Capital Projects
Given that no new capital projects were funded for higher education in this budget, I am also grateful that the legislature funded the Blount County Campus last year. Although that campus was not in the Governor's original budget, the legislature added it to the list at the last moment. It would have been very disappointing not to be able to move forward with our plans for that new campus after 12 years of anticipation. We are very close to announcing the site selection and contractor for that new addition, and the people of Blount County are helping by raising money to furnish and equip that facility. Our goal for the Blount County campaign is $2 million.
Pay Raises
Governor Bredesen is proposing 2 percent pay raises for state employees, including higher education employees. The state will fund 2/3 of these raises and the school must fund the remaining 1/3 of the raises. For Pellissippi State, this will amount to approximately $126,000 plus benefits. This must be taken from other school budget areas.
New Salary Study
Pellissippi State contracted with compensation specialists from the University of Tennessee to assist in the development of a new salary schedule for all employees. Although our salary schedules are still competitive within the system, we have found that changes in job duties and descriptions and salary compression made it necessary to review the salary ranges. Our salary schedule for all employees has been outdated by inflation, poor funding years, and turnover. Although our salary schedule is competitive within the TBR system, we want to be among the leaders, and we have to change it to be sure that we maintain our position.
The college did ask the compensation specialists at the University of Tennessee to advise us regarding current salaries with respect to experience and education. The study identified a number of employees who should be adjusted and the college has done so with the amount of money that was allowed by the Tennessee Board of Regents salary structure. These adjustments were approved by the Tennessee Board of Regents and were implemented effective January 1, 2008.
In order to make further adjustments to faculty and staff salaries, we must have a new salary plan in place, and it must be approved by the Tennessee Board of Regents. Therefore, the college has again contracted with the University of Tennessee compensation specialist to continue a review of our salary structure. The results of this review will be submitted to the Tennessee Board of Regents at the December 2008 board meeting.
Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)
This spring semester, Pellissippi State officially begins its preparation for our reaffirmation of accreditation. The on-site review team will be on our campus in the fall semester of 2011. This means that our compliance certification report (new name for the self-study) will be completed by March, 2011. The major focus of the reaffirmation process will be the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The QEP topic must be identified through a college-wide process and it must focus on improving student learning. I believe that we have laid the groundwork for selecting a topic for our QEP through our efforts in Foundations of Excellence process, but we need to be sure that everyone, including faculty, staff, and students on all campuses, participates as we move toward reaffirmation.