Weatherford College president talks about legislative funding

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April 25, 2011

Weatherford College president talks about legislative funding

Sally Sexton CNHI The Weatherford Democrat Mon Apr 25, 2011, 08:16 AM CDT

WEATHERFORD — Like all others in the education system, Weatherford College is feeling the crunch of the budget debate, especially with a lot of unanswered questions from the Texas legislature. Last week, Weatherford College president Kevin Eaton sat down with the Democrat to give his thoughts on the matter.

“One of the toughest things is that we don’t have an exact number, so we’re guesstimating right now,” he said. “It’s pretty intensive [coming up with a budget]. We’ve looked at soft cuts, such as supplies, travel and equipment.

“But we have set aside $200,000 for emergency equipment.”

The community college has already taken precautionary steps toward meeting the budget possibilities that could be handed down from Austin, but so far, have managed to avoid letting any of its 312 full-time employees go.

“We don’t want staff cuts,” Eaton said. “We have had a freeze on hiring the last two months. We’re now trying to absorb retirees.”

At the most recent trustee meeting, the WC board voted to increase tuition by about 9 percent, which would generate a net income of $827,589.

Several trustees spoke out against raising taxes, voting instead of take care of the matter internally.

“I understand the board has the best interests, and we’re all doing everything we can,” Eaton said. “We’re doing everything we can to keep our family together. It’s a tough mix because I feel like I’ve got 312 people relying on me to make the best decision possible.”

Eaton said one of his biggest concerns revolves around health care talks, and a possible cuts in insurance as well as appropriations funding.

“The first year of the next biennium, we will be down $3 [million] to $4 million from where we started at the beginning of the last biennium,” he said. “If [the legislature] does the 50 percent cut they’re talking about, it will drop another $500,000 to $600,000 per year.”

Alternative solutions

Several ideas have been thrown around by staff at WC to solve the problem, including utilizing existing space by packing in more students.

“We can’t add more students because many rooms have a maximum of 28 students,” Eaton said. “The campus was built in 1969, so the space required different numbers then.

“We have looked at staff realignments and utilizing the resources that we have, but Weatherford College has grown 102 percent in the last decade.”

Future projects

At the last meeting, trustees also reviewed an updated status on the designing of two future projects, in a new softball field and a new academic building.

“The academic building will have approximately 12 new classrooms and eight new labs with numerous faculty offices,” Eaton said. “It’s a great opportunity to house more students and give them some new resources to work with.”

Despite the pricing of the new projects, Weatherford College will still have $7 million to $8 million in reserves after the structures are completed. The campus is also still paying on the existing buildings, due to maintenance and upkeeping.

“The board approved a maintenance tax note for $3 million for the older buildings, and $2 million will be used to replace roofs and the existing roof lines,” Eaton said. “The remaining million will go toward improving our pre-existing buildings.”