To Glendale Community College Faculty and Staff,

With the passage of Proposition 30, we are now able to move forward and avoid several immediate and devastating cuts that would have occurred if the proposition had not passed. The passage of Proposition 30 was clearly a vote of confidence by the people of California for our community colleges and the future of the state’s economic, social and cultural well- being. I am confident that this trust by the voters of California is well placed. I want to thank all of you for making Glendale Community College such an important part of the community and the region.

In the short-term, the passage of Proposition 30 will help GCC avoid many devastating program cuts, budget cuts and layoffs. We have been spared having to cut more than $4.6 million out of this year’s budget. This would have resulted in cutting 250 course sections, laying off as many as 20 staff members and suspending several support and co-curricular programs.

What the passage of Proposition 30 won’t allow us to do is go backwards. There is much work to be done, both in addressing structural budget deficit problems, and programmatic and organizational system challenges at GCC. We will still need to realign many processes and services, staffing and the academic calendar as well as our budget allocation practices, to fit with the realities of what it means to be a community college that is charged with serving as the major economic, cultural and democratizing force for our community and region.

There are many issues that we will be facing over the next several years that will require not only new actions, processes and ways of operating, but a whole new way of thinking about how GCC can best serve the needs of students. In other words, we have an exciting but challenging future ahead of us.

I look forward to meeting with the faculty next Tuesday during the college hour and with the classified staff on Thursday, Nov. 29 to continue the dialogue that has already begun on the future of GCC.

Again, I congratulate all of you for the passage of Proposition 30, it was your hard work and dedication to the success of all our students that helped bring about this historic occasion for all of education in California.

Jim Riggs

Interim Superintendent/President