Fiscal Responsibility: Resign, Klein!

SIERRA COLLEGE TRUSTEE CHARGES THREE BOARD MEMBERS WITH MISREPRESENTING SCHOOL’S FINANCES

Read the full report:
Fiscal Responsibility at Sierra College: A Broader Look

August 13 – Despite claims from three members of the Sierra College Board of Trustees that they have brought “balanced budgets” and increased solvency to the college, an exhaustive report by trustee Bill Martin shows that the college is in significantly worse financial shape than when the current majority took over in 2004.

The 25 page study, titled “Fiscal Responsibility at Sierra College: A Broader Look,” also debunks election-year claims by trustees Aaron Klein, Jerry Simmons, and Scott Leslie, that the college was plagued with unbalanced budgets and fiscal mismanagement prior to their election. According to Martin, the three trustees have adopted an oversimplified definition of “balanced budget” which has been used to misrepresent the college’s excellent long-term record of fiscal responsibility and to disguise the college’s current financial position.

The report, which was announced by Martin at the regular monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees last night, states that “this board has not met its essential fiscal responsibility to fairly present the college’s needs to the public.”

“Sierra College’s finances have been well-managed over its 50 year history, and false claims to the contrary by three of its own trustees have been extremely damaging to the college’s reputation among local taxpayers and detrimental to staff morale. The board has failed to gain support for the college in its own community,” Martin said.

Specifically, the report notes that the key parameter of “unrestricted Operating Fund reserves” has decreased significantly from an average of 10.42% from 1995 – 2004 to 8.78% from 2004 – 2008. The current reserve balance is nearly $1.5 million less than if the 2004 reserve level had been sustained. Total unrestricted reserve funds, as a percentage of expenditures, are at a thirteen year low.
According to the report, Sierra ranks 70th among the 72 California Community College Districts in capital investment per student, 69th in total investment, and as a result has invested less than 12% in capital improvements per student than statewide community college averages.

Martin also states that one side-effect of the lack of local public support is that district taxpayers have actually subsidized other community colleges by $17 million over the past decade. “Sierra’s lack of ability to match statewide bond funds means that the college has not earned its fair share of state support,” he says.

“Sierra College is beyond question the most poorly supported public institution of higher learning in the state”, he says. “Declining to fund it is the public’s right, but at least it should do so in full knowledge of the facts, and it is the board’s responsibility to communicate them honestly.”

The report states that last year 4100 student enrollments in science classes at Sierra were denied because of outdated and inadequate science classroom and lab facilities. “Admission to Sierra’s nursing program is more selective than freshman admissions to Harvard,” Martin states. “Sierra’s lack of adequate science facilities is tragic in a world where most lucrative professions are science based.”

A September, 2007 report by Martin, “Sierra College: Community Impact and Funding Shortfall” showed that Placer County is virtually the only county in the state which has declined to support its local college via general obligation bonds. That report calculated that over the last decade Sierra College has been funded at $300 Million less than the average statewide community college district. The only bond ever passed for Sierra’s Rocklin campus was for $3.04 million more than fifty years ago.

“Allowing partisan politics to control Sierra College has been one of the worst disasters ever to befall any California community college. The ultimate victims of a starved college are the tens of thousands of future students in our growing district who will depend on us for their post-secondary education and the thousands of employers in need of qualified employees. The long-term cost to this county’s economy is incalculable, but is potentially well into the hundreds of millions of dollars.” he concludes.

The full text of both reports is available at http://www.savesierracollege.com/.