Budget woes dominated a reception Thursday evening for Gavilan
College’s new president, Steven Kinsella, to the community.
GILROY – Budget woes dominated a reception Thursday evening for Gavilan College’s new president, Steven Kinsella, to the community.
“If you’ve got to go through a crisis … there’s no better place to do it than with the folks at Gavilan College,” Kinsella said during his brief remarks, which were devoted almost entirely to the effect the state’s looming $35 billion deficit will have on the community college. “Folks have really pitched in, and I think we’re going to get through this just fine.”
In an interview earlier in the evening, Kinsella said that during his first month back at Gavilan – where he served as dean of business services in the 1990s – he’s heard a lot of concern about the state budget crunch.
“Everyone’s concerned about the budget, of course,” Kinsella said. “But everyone’s telling me they’re confident with the process we’ve established.”
That process includes a task force to make recommendations on how to cut the school’s budget. The task force includes students, faculty, staff and administrators.
Margery Regalado, Gavilan’s dean of enrollment management, agreed with Kinsella’s assessment.
“I think it’s been a real thoughtful process,” Regalado said Thursday about the way possible spending cuts are being identified. “People are thinking at a real institutional level.”
Regalado described the cuts as “enrollment management” and “not lopping things off but shrinking” the school so that it enrolls only the number of students it can properly serve.
The task force has about three more weeks to identify how to reduce spending by about 6 percent, or $1.2 million dollars, Kinsella said. He anticipates the task force’s recommendations will be presented to the college’s Board of Trustees in March.
After those cuts are finalized, the school will have to do it all over again – this time to identify an estimated $1 million in spending cuts for the next fiscal year.
Gavilan Trustee and Board President Laura Perry said the board wants to avoid layoffs as it deals with the budget crisis.
“We’re committed to working toward no layoffs and balancing this budget,” Perry said.
She thinks Kinsella, who was chosen to fill the $161,000-per-year president post last fall, is the right person to deliver that tall order.
“We’re extremely proud of him,” said Perry, of Morgan Hill. “We know he’s going to do a great job.”
Beyond the immediate budget crisis, Kinsella said he is working to position the school to grow once the economy recovers.
“Long-range, we need to be able to address the next upturn in the economy, which will probably be in about two years,” Kinsella said. “It’s a matter of getting the right balance.”
Trustee James de la Cruz of Hollister said Thursday evening’s reception – along with another one held for faculty earlier in the day – was important for the Gavilan community.
“It’s a chance to get everybody together, to let your hair down and just talk, chat. It’s a way to develop camaraderie,” de la Cruz said.
Associated Student Body Vice President Hannah Haberkamp, who got a chance to talk with Kinsella during the reception, appreciated the opportunity to bend the president’s ear.
“It really is important to have a voice that can be heard by the president,” Haberkamp said.
