Dr. Cynthia Azari, president of Fresno City College, explained that $1.9 million in unspent funds for academic year 2009-10 will now be spent on instructional equipment.
The unspent funds were announced at the Academic Senate meeting on April 28.
Dr. Azari told The Rampage that the funds came from cost-cutting measures in non-classroom areas.
The large amount of unspent funds resulted from a reduction in workload from the college’s classified positions, according to Dr. Azari. Classified staff are employed by the college but not considered faculty; this includes staff such as secretaries and custodians.
The Fresno City College budget committee decided to also reduce library hours, student aides, and some student hourly employees.
According to state law, because the unspent funds came from non-classroom areas it had to be spent in the same way, Azari said.
The largest portion – $400,000 – will be spent on new chairs for the dental hygiene program, Dr. Azari said. Another $106,000 will go toward software to assist with X-ray machines.
The vice president of student services, Michael Guerra, said, “We took the recommendations from the decision packages and for program review and this committee [budget advisory committee] made the final decision and then went to the Strategic Planning Council.”
Linda DeKruif, the president of the Academic Senate, said, “The Academic Senate has not made any recommendations independently. The Academic Senate has a voice in the decision-making process through representation on … campus-wide committees.”
Faculty members sit on the Strategic Planning Committee, which reviews positions and decides if there’s a need to fill vacancies.
Due to position reviews, many classified positions were left vacant, Dr. Azari said.
Despite the college’s unspent funds, there is still the possibility of further cuts to classes, programs and staff positions in the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 semesters.
Class offerings were also reduced. Dr. Azari said FCC cut 225 class sections over two academic years.
