Confronted with projected budget shortfalls and financial uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chancellor’s Executive Cabinet (CEC) has taken several immediate actions, including charging a Strategic Budget Reduction and Future Planning Task Force with making recommendations for high-level budget reduction strategies. Each of the colleges and the district office will begin to undertake budget reduction processes in order to submit a balanced FY 2020-2021 budget for adoption by the Board of Trustees in October. Decisions on any actions are made using a set of guiding principles that give priority to protecting students and leading with racial equity.
(Refer to Strategic Budget Reduction and Future Planning).

Additionally, CEC has initiated the following actions:

Voluntary Retirement or Separation

Offer voluntary early retirement or separation incentives for exempt and faculty employees.

Furloughs

Implement district-wide mandatory furloughs for employees (except positions that are majority grant funded) - Friday, July 17; Friday, July 24;  and Friday, August 21. Furlough days will be implemented following the Collective Bargaining Agreements where appropriate. A furlough day originally scheduled for Wednesday, November 25 has been cancelled due to changes at the State level which resulted in SharedWork no longer being available for furloughed staff on this date.

Reductions in Hours & Layoffs

A small number of employees working in specific self-sustaining programs have experienced more significant impacts to their positions: 

• These employees' weekly work will be reduced to 20 hours for the remaining weeks in July (so they may apply for the State's SharedWork benefits). 
• Portions of staff were laid off temporarily (up to 90 days) beginning in August; 
• Portions of staff were permanently laid off beginning in August. Layoffs followed the appropriate Collective Bargaining Agreements.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We know this is a stressful situation and you have many questions. Please refer to this list of FAQs as a starting point and check back as we will continue to add information.