2008 Woodie Awards
ACCD, SAISD sign memo of understanding for Early College High
Trustees OK election results from May 10.
By Regis L. Roberts
Issue date: 6/30/08 Section: News
Originally published: 7/11/08 at 4:47 PM CSTLast update: 9/4/08 at 2:04 PM CST
May 13
ACCD, SAISD sign memo of understanding for Early College High School
Trustees OK election results from May 10.
With an 8:30 p.m. Spurs tipoff looming, the board of trustees rushed through the May 13 special meeting to canvass election results and OK an agreement for a second Early College High School.
Only two items were on the agenda, the first being a quick review of the outcome of the May 10 board elections to make sure everything was "copacetic" as board Chair Roberto Zárate said.
"I believe our packet shows that there were no provisional ballots, and everything is up to date," Zárate said.
In District 3, Freedom Elementary music teacher Anna Bustamante won with 58.48 percent, 2,285-1,622, over Ricardo Martinez, who was District 3 trustee in 1997 and 2004,
District 8 incumbent Gary Beitzel reclaimed his spot with 52.85 percent, 2,962-2,643, over Crista Branch, a private practice attorney.
In the closest race, District 9 incumbent James Rindfuss won with 51.69 percent, 3,847-3,596, over Carolyn Montoya, who owns Associated Contractors Enterprise.
District 4 incumbent Marcelo Casillas was unopposed for his seat so no election was required.
Zárate asked district legal counsel Bill Armstrong and Martha McCabe if action needed to be taken on the item concerning a canvassing of the vote.
"Usually, what we do is wait a sufficient time to allow people to respond," Zárate said. "We do not have to take action on this item, do we?"
Armstrong responded that because it was a minute order, action was needed.
The board unanimously approved the vote canvass item.
In other business, the board approved a "memorandum of understanding" for the future of an Early College High School operated by this college and San Antonio Independent School District. The high school will be housed in what is currently Travis Elementary School.
Zárate made sure to note that the minute order containing the proposal for the Early College High School was not for action to be taken on its implementation.
"There's been nothing done in terms of the property, or anything like that," he said. "This is to facilitate the application update with the Texas Education Agency."
A final decision will need to be taken soon, he said, because President Robert Zeigler and Chancellor Bruce Leslie said they want to see the program begin in the fall.
District 2 trustee Denver McClendon questioned how the qualification process and dual credit would work.
Zeigler said high school students would need to pass a basic skills exam to show their readiness to enter into college-level courses, and, because of the expected volume of interest in the program, a lottery system would be needed to choose students who have shown their skills.
Students would enter into dual-credit classes in their junior year once they have shown their ability to handle college-level work, but high school students could take dual-credit courses that do not require a basic skills assessment in their sophomore or freshman year.
"There are courses like the physical education course where there's not a basic skills requirement, so they could take those," Zeigler said. "The idea is that they will be assessed early, and then if there's deficiencies, we work on those deficiencies to get them ready for a college-level work environment by the time they're a junior."
McClendon and District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel noted this college's current level of enrollment in remedial courses, which Zeigler said includes about 70 percent of students seeking remediation in reading, English and math.
Beitzel said that if high school students take college-level courses in the program, there should be no reason to enroll in remedial classes.
The board unanimously approved the memorandum of understanding.
After adjourning the special meeting and conducting two committee meetings, trustees finally adjourned shortly before 8 p.m. in plenty of time to find a television for the Spurs fifth playoff game against the New Orleans Hornets.
May 20
Community colleges left out of equation for incentive funding
Trustee election winners sworn in at board meeting.
Texas community colleges have a lot in common with comedian Rodney Dangerfield: They get no respect.
That was the consensus during Tuesday's regular board of trustees meeting after Chair Roberto Zárate gave a summary of a task force meeting Monday.
The Monday meeting of the Task Force on Higher Education Incentive Funding appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, had the duty of allocating $100 million for fiscal year 2009 appropriated during the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's April meeting.
The task force was set up by Perry in January through Executive Order RP67 to fulfill the 2000 initiative Closing the Gaps by 2015. Zárate was one of five people appointed by the governor.
Much to Zárate's chagrin, none of that $100 million was allocated to Texas community colleges.
Instead, $80 million was apportioned to four-year institutions and the remaining $20 million went to scholarships for undergraduate students performing in the top 10 percent.
"We took a tremendous step backward yesterday," Zárate said.
A motion was made at the task force meeting to allocate additional funding that may come through to community colleges, he said.
"The governor supposedly has $40 million somewhere, and if it is available, then that will be made available to community college students," he said.
"Basically, we were supposed to be in the mix of the $100 million, and we're not anymore," he continued.
He said he made a motion that future funds that come through from the governor's office or the coordinating board be distributed evenly between the four- and two-year institutions.
Zárate said there is a bias toward four-year universities in Texas government.
District 6 trustee Gene Sprague applauded Zárate's advocacy on behalf of Texas community colleges, "despite this goofy motion that came out of this discussion.
"I think it's time to raise and organize boards again," Sprague continued. "Because when we did, several things happened," he said, including endorsements from newspapers across the state.
He said it's time to go to the Legislature and tell them, "We're going to put some political pressure on you that you haven't seen in a while. They're afraid of the four-year institutions."
It's time to exercise some muscle, he said.
Zárate, however, was already ahead of Sprague.
He is working with trustees from other Texas community colleges to form the Community College Association of Texas Trustees. The organization was set up a year and a half ago for elected representatives of community colleges in the state to advocate for the schools in the Legislature. The group should be incorporated in June, Zárate said.
District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel said the Texas Legislature is more receptive to talking with trustees on the needs of community colleges because they are elected representatives who, like legislators, have constituents.
Beitzel said faculty and staff are seen by the Legislature as advocating for their salaries.
Any funding the district, and Texas community colleges in general, could receive is welcome, Chancellor Bruce Leslie said, especially after the blow colleges were dealt when Perry vetoed a bill for $154 million for community college employee health coverage in June of last year. It was estimated that the district lost out on $12 million with the veto.
The treatment of Texas community colleges has been on the minds of board members and others from the district for the last few days.
At a board retreat May 17 and at Tuesday's board meeting, board members said the Legislature does not understand the needs of community colleges.
Trustees said this is made clear by the fact that the Legislature puts an emphasis on completion rates.
Many students attend community college without the intent to receive an associate degree or even a certificate, he said. Some students just want to work on skills for a job.
In fact, the executive order that created the Task Force on Higher Education Incentive Funding makes completion a priority, saying, "it is imperative that the state of Texas increase the number and quality of graduates, especially those in critical fields, and increase the number of community college students who transfer to universities and then earn baccalaureate degrees."
James McLaughlin, vice chancellor for administration, who presented a preliminary budget to the board Tuesday, was asked by Zárate to make sure to plan a budget that was based on money the district has for sure.
Zárate did not want to overbudget on the assumption that the district would receive money that ultimately does not come. McLaughlin said he was not working with any numbers that were not budgeted.
The preliminary budget was added to the agenda after the retreat.
McLaughlin presented a preliminary operating budget of $556.58 million, but elaborated in an interview Thursday that the figure could go up if the board approves any agenda items that approve additional spending.
McLaughlin said he could present a final operating budget for the June board meeting, but the trustees said that if McLaughlin needed time, they could call a special meeting in July as was done last year.
Zárate said the board was not approving a final operating budget.
In other business, the winners of the May 10 election for the board were sworn in, with the vote canvassed in the May 15 special board meeting.
District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel and District 9 trustee James Rindfuss were returned to their seats.
District 4 trustee Marcelo Casillas was uncontested.
Newly elected District 3 trustee Anna Bustamante was sworn in.
Upon adjournment, Bustamante commented to Zárate, with a laugh, that he moved through the agenda too fast for her.
June 17
District hires new administrators despite funding difficulties
Board approves nursing tuition increase.
While the district is working to get its financial situation in order, the board of trustees in the regular meeting June 17 hired three new vice chancellors.
Executive Vice President Kristine Clark moved from her position at this college to vice chancellor for academic success; Adelina Silva, the district's director of student and community program development, has been promoted to vice chancellor for student success; Jo-Carol Fabianke, the district's director for Achieving the Dream, was bumped up to the position of associate vice chancellor for academic support.
These changes went into effect June 18.
Chancellor Bruce Leslie said 25 years ago, there was a position called the vice chancellor for academic and student success.
This position, however, was hard to fill and the duties of handling both academic and student issues could not be given their full attention by one person, he said. He elaborated by saying that he thought an administrator in this position would focus most of their attention on academics to the detriment of student needs.
The Associate vice chancellor of academic support reports to the vice chancellor for academic success.
While the selection process saw candidates from around the nation, Leslie said, these three spots were ultimately filled using people from within the district, not only because they would transition well, knowing the system, but because they are quality individuals.
James McLaughlin, vice chancellor for administration, presented the results and recommendations of the compression phase from a compensation study by Fox Lawson and Associates.
The goal of this study was to bring up the base pay of staff to bring them up to par with their position and skill level in the San Antonio market.
"Compression," McLaughlin said, comes from the idea that the base pay would bring lower-level employees closer to staff that have more seniority and experience.
The results of the study did not include changes in benefits, he said.
"As you might guess, for many of the employees, the benefits may make it an attractive place to work, but you can't pay the bills with them," McLaughlin said.
He said that because new employees being hired by the district can command a higher salary in the local market, especially positions that require a high degree of technological expertise, they are often hired with a starting pay above current employees who may have a few years of seniority over the new hires.
District 7 trustee Charles Conner said he had hoped to get to a point where staff compensation was fair and kept up with market demands and reflected the cost of living.
McLaughlin said he has experienced situations where an institution readjusted the compensation every year to keep up with inflation, while others readjust every five years.
The board ultimately decided to table an item on the compression study until a June 28 board retreat in Kerrville.
Considering the problems the district has been having with financial concerns, how can the board justify taking on new staff in positions that have been vacant for years?
When asked Wednesday, Leslie responded by saying that the district is reorganizing funding to adjust for changing conditions.
Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a bill for $154 million for community college employee health coverage in June of last year. It was estimated that the district lost out on $12 million with the veto.
This veto has been brought up consistently in recent trustee meetings, especially in the regular board meeting May 20.
The Texas Legislature also is changing its priorities for higher education, stressing graduation rates, which is not the top priority for two-year institutions, a point made several times by District 5 trustee Roberto Zárate, board chair.
Leslie also said that, instead of creating "new" positions, the district is playing catch up on hiring administrators. He said there are 240 vacant staff positions systemwide.
The real importance in considering what is being done with these resources is how the district uses them, he said.
Demanding greater student productivity is being stressed right now, he said.
ACCD, SAISD sign memo of understanding for Early College High School
Trustees OK election results from May 10.
With an 8:30 p.m. Spurs tipoff looming, the board of trustees rushed through the May 13 special meeting to canvass election results and OK an agreement for a second Early College High School.
Only two items were on the agenda, the first being a quick review of the outcome of the May 10 board elections to make sure everything was "copacetic" as board Chair Roberto Zárate said.
"I believe our packet shows that there were no provisional ballots, and everything is up to date," Zárate said.
In District 3, Freedom Elementary music teacher Anna Bustamante won with 58.48 percent, 2,285-1,622, over Ricardo Martinez, who was District 3 trustee in 1997 and 2004,
District 8 incumbent Gary Beitzel reclaimed his spot with 52.85 percent, 2,962-2,643, over Crista Branch, a private practice attorney.
In the closest race, District 9 incumbent James Rindfuss won with 51.69 percent, 3,847-3,596, over Carolyn Montoya, who owns Associated Contractors Enterprise.
District 4 incumbent Marcelo Casillas was unopposed for his seat so no election was required.
Zárate asked district legal counsel Bill Armstrong and Martha McCabe if action needed to be taken on the item concerning a canvassing of the vote.
"Usually, what we do is wait a sufficient time to allow people to respond," Zárate said. "We do not have to take action on this item, do we?"
Armstrong responded that because it was a minute order, action was needed.
The board unanimously approved the vote canvass item.
In other business, the board approved a "memorandum of understanding" for the future of an Early College High School operated by this college and San Antonio Independent School District. The high school will be housed in what is currently Travis Elementary School.
Zárate made sure to note that the minute order containing the proposal for the Early College High School was not for action to be taken on its implementation.
"There's been nothing done in terms of the property, or anything like that," he said. "This is to facilitate the application update with the Texas Education Agency."
A final decision will need to be taken soon, he said, because President Robert Zeigler and Chancellor Bruce Leslie said they want to see the program begin in the fall.
District 2 trustee Denver McClendon questioned how the qualification process and dual credit would work.
Zeigler said high school students would need to pass a basic skills exam to show their readiness to enter into college-level courses, and, because of the expected volume of interest in the program, a lottery system would be needed to choose students who have shown their skills.
Students would enter into dual-credit classes in their junior year once they have shown their ability to handle college-level work, but high school students could take dual-credit courses that do not require a basic skills assessment in their sophomore or freshman year.
"There are courses like the physical education course where there's not a basic skills requirement, so they could take those," Zeigler said. "The idea is that they will be assessed early, and then if there's deficiencies, we work on those deficiencies to get them ready for a college-level work environment by the time they're a junior."
McClendon and District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel noted this college's current level of enrollment in remedial courses, which Zeigler said includes about 70 percent of students seeking remediation in reading, English and math.
Beitzel said that if high school students take college-level courses in the program, there should be no reason to enroll in remedial classes.
The board unanimously approved the memorandum of understanding.
After adjourning the special meeting and conducting two committee meetings, trustees finally adjourned shortly before 8 p.m. in plenty of time to find a television for the Spurs fifth playoff game against the New Orleans Hornets.
May 20
Community colleges left out of equation for incentive funding
Trustee election winners sworn in at board meeting.
Texas community colleges have a lot in common with comedian Rodney Dangerfield: They get no respect.
That was the consensus during Tuesday's regular board of trustees meeting after Chair Roberto Zárate gave a summary of a task force meeting Monday.
The Monday meeting of the Task Force on Higher Education Incentive Funding appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, had the duty of allocating $100 million for fiscal year 2009 appropriated during the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board's April meeting.
The task force was set up by Perry in January through Executive Order RP67 to fulfill the 2000 initiative Closing the Gaps by 2015. Zárate was one of five people appointed by the governor.
Much to Zárate's chagrin, none of that $100 million was allocated to Texas community colleges.
Instead, $80 million was apportioned to four-year institutions and the remaining $20 million went to scholarships for undergraduate students performing in the top 10 percent.
"We took a tremendous step backward yesterday," Zárate said.
A motion was made at the task force meeting to allocate additional funding that may come through to community colleges, he said.
"The governor supposedly has $40 million somewhere, and if it is available, then that will be made available to community college students," he said.
"Basically, we were supposed to be in the mix of the $100 million, and we're not anymore," he continued.
He said he made a motion that future funds that come through from the governor's office or the coordinating board be distributed evenly between the four- and two-year institutions.
Zárate said there is a bias toward four-year universities in Texas government.
District 6 trustee Gene Sprague applauded Zárate's advocacy on behalf of Texas community colleges, "despite this goofy motion that came out of this discussion.
"I think it's time to raise and organize boards again," Sprague continued. "Because when we did, several things happened," he said, including endorsements from newspapers across the state.
He said it's time to go to the Legislature and tell them, "We're going to put some political pressure on you that you haven't seen in a while. They're afraid of the four-year institutions."
It's time to exercise some muscle, he said.
Zárate, however, was already ahead of Sprague.
He is working with trustees from other Texas community colleges to form the Community College Association of Texas Trustees. The organization was set up a year and a half ago for elected representatives of community colleges in the state to advocate for the schools in the Legislature. The group should be incorporated in June, Zárate said.
District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel said the Texas Legislature is more receptive to talking with trustees on the needs of community colleges because they are elected representatives who, like legislators, have constituents.
Beitzel said faculty and staff are seen by the Legislature as advocating for their salaries.
Any funding the district, and Texas community colleges in general, could receive is welcome, Chancellor Bruce Leslie said, especially after the blow colleges were dealt when Perry vetoed a bill for $154 million for community college employee health coverage in June of last year. It was estimated that the district lost out on $12 million with the veto.
The treatment of Texas community colleges has been on the minds of board members and others from the district for the last few days.
At a board retreat May 17 and at Tuesday's board meeting, board members said the Legislature does not understand the needs of community colleges.
Trustees said this is made clear by the fact that the Legislature puts an emphasis on completion rates.
Many students attend community college without the intent to receive an associate degree or even a certificate, he said. Some students just want to work on skills for a job.
In fact, the executive order that created the Task Force on Higher Education Incentive Funding makes completion a priority, saying, "it is imperative that the state of Texas increase the number and quality of graduates, especially those in critical fields, and increase the number of community college students who transfer to universities and then earn baccalaureate degrees."
James McLaughlin, vice chancellor for administration, who presented a preliminary budget to the board Tuesday, was asked by Zárate to make sure to plan a budget that was based on money the district has for sure.
Zárate did not want to overbudget on the assumption that the district would receive money that ultimately does not come. McLaughlin said he was not working with any numbers that were not budgeted.
The preliminary budget was added to the agenda after the retreat.
McLaughlin presented a preliminary operating budget of $556.58 million, but elaborated in an interview Thursday that the figure could go up if the board approves any agenda items that approve additional spending.
McLaughlin said he could present a final operating budget for the June board meeting, but the trustees said that if McLaughlin needed time, they could call a special meeting in July as was done last year.
Zárate said the board was not approving a final operating budget.
In other business, the winners of the May 10 election for the board were sworn in, with the vote canvassed in the May 15 special board meeting.
District 8 trustee Gary Beitzel and District 9 trustee James Rindfuss were returned to their seats.
District 4 trustee Marcelo Casillas was uncontested.
Newly elected District 3 trustee Anna Bustamante was sworn in.
Upon adjournment, Bustamante commented to Zárate, with a laugh, that he moved through the agenda too fast for her.
June 17
District hires new administrators despite funding difficulties
Board approves nursing tuition increase.
While the district is working to get its financial situation in order, the board of trustees in the regular meeting June 17 hired three new vice chancellors.
Executive Vice President Kristine Clark moved from her position at this college to vice chancellor for academic success; Adelina Silva, the district's director of student and community program development, has been promoted to vice chancellor for student success; Jo-Carol Fabianke, the district's director for Achieving the Dream, was bumped up to the position of associate vice chancellor for academic support.
These changes went into effect June 18.
Chancellor Bruce Leslie said 25 years ago, there was a position called the vice chancellor for academic and student success.
This position, however, was hard to fill and the duties of handling both academic and student issues could not be given their full attention by one person, he said. He elaborated by saying that he thought an administrator in this position would focus most of their attention on academics to the detriment of student needs.
The Associate vice chancellor of academic support reports to the vice chancellor for academic success.
While the selection process saw candidates from around the nation, Leslie said, these three spots were ultimately filled using people from within the district, not only because they would transition well, knowing the system, but because they are quality individuals.
James McLaughlin, vice chancellor for administration, presented the results and recommendations of the compression phase from a compensation study by Fox Lawson and Associates.
The goal of this study was to bring up the base pay of staff to bring them up to par with their position and skill level in the San Antonio market.
"Compression," McLaughlin said, comes from the idea that the base pay would bring lower-level employees closer to staff that have more seniority and experience.
The results of the study did not include changes in benefits, he said.
"As you might guess, for many of the employees, the benefits may make it an attractive place to work, but you can't pay the bills with them," McLaughlin said.
He said that because new employees being hired by the district can command a higher salary in the local market, especially positions that require a high degree of technological expertise, they are often hired with a starting pay above current employees who may have a few years of seniority over the new hires.
District 7 trustee Charles Conner said he had hoped to get to a point where staff compensation was fair and kept up with market demands and reflected the cost of living.
McLaughlin said he has experienced situations where an institution readjusted the compensation every year to keep up with inflation, while others readjust every five years.
The board ultimately decided to table an item on the compression study until a June 28 board retreat in Kerrville.
Considering the problems the district has been having with financial concerns, how can the board justify taking on new staff in positions that have been vacant for years?
When asked Wednesday, Leslie responded by saying that the district is reorganizing funding to adjust for changing conditions.
Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a bill for $154 million for community college employee health coverage in June of last year. It was estimated that the district lost out on $12 million with the veto.
This veto has been brought up consistently in recent trustee meetings, especially in the regular board meeting May 20.
The Texas Legislature also is changing its priorities for higher education, stressing graduation rates, which is not the top priority for two-year institutions, a point made several times by District 5 trustee Roberto Zárate, board chair.
Leslie also said that, instead of creating "new" positions, the district is playing catch up on hiring administrators. He said there are 240 vacant staff positions systemwide.
The real importance in considering what is being done with these resources is how the district uses them, he said.
Demanding greater student productivity is being stressed right now, he said.
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