The college’s budget, courses and the role of the Department of Education in funding were topics discussed at the Pierce College Academic Senate meeting on March 24 in Building 600 with the members of the public, faculty and staff.
President Ara Aguiar stated the Pierce finance team has identified enough funding to
reduce the deficit this semester to $1.7 million.
“Our team has been working really hard,” Aguiar said. “If we are able to do the things we have
planned, it’s all about the consultation process.”
District Curriculum Dean Seth Anderson deliberated on how the district is moving into several
legislative mandates.
“The last three weeks, I have been out at the colleges with my team and with the district
curriculum chair,” Seth said. “We are sharing information and talking about the steps we are
taking to prepare for those changes.”
During the senate meeting Margarita Pillado received a letter from Chancellor Sonya Christian
that had been sent to all California Community College presidents regarding the executive order
regarding the Department of Education.
“She remarks in the letter that overall for the system for the California Community Colleges, the
federal money is about three percent of the entire budget.” Pillado said. “We just need to go out
and do something in order to prevent things from getting worse.”
Academic Senate Treasure Kalynda McLean advises participants that at each meeting they
should be able to access the treasurer report which includes reconciliation, prior to the month or
that half of the month.
“The meeting today was very efficient and we moved through the business,” McLean said.
“There’s a lot of business that we had to sort of make our way through, but the presentation
from the district dean was very helpful.”
The next Academic Senate meeting will be held on April 21, in Building 600 at 2:15 p.m.