In light of a budget deficit expected to reach $5 million by the end of June, Las Positas College has announced plans to prioritize essential personnel in its hiring process.
While LPC President Dyrell Foster acknowledged that the situation is not currently a hiring freeze, he said that due to the ongoing budget deficit, the college is currently undergoing a “suspension of hiring.”
A hiring freeze is a pause in a company’s hiring process, meaning they stop hiring for vacant positions and cease creating new ones. Although typically temporary, these freezes can be indefinite. According to Foster, this differs from a “suspension of hiring” because LPC is still currently filling positions with heavy discretion.
“As we have vacancies, we don’t automatically fill them, which is what we would typically do if we were in a better fiscal climate,” Foster said. “If there are vacancies, those areas would then bring a rationale as to why that position is mission critical to student success.”
According to Amy Mattern, a Dean for Arts and Humanities at LPC, faculty positions are filled following the Faculty Hiring Prioritization Process. Similarly, there is a Classified and Administrative Request Process. If a classified or administrative position has been vacant for less than 24 months, deans can bring rationale to the vice president as to why it needs to be urgently filled.
Foster said that LPC is still hiring faculty essential to “college operations,” including financial aid processing and other student services. The suspension should not affect day-to-day operations of the college. The college is currently hiring for several dean and instructor positions, including a Dean of Athletics, Dean of BSSL (Business, Social Science, and Learning Resources) and an instructor for Viticulture and Winery Technology, according to the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District website.
Although LPC is hiring for several dean positions, no position is currently vacant, and all positions will be “filled by the time the current dean leaves their position,” according to President Foster’s office.
LPC’s biggest hurdle is increasing the allocation of funding it receives from the state, which will allow them to have more flexibility in hiring processes, according to Foster. Las Positas — along with several other community colleges across the state — is on hold-harmless status.
Hold-harmless intends to adequately fund colleges, despite enrollment fluctuations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The state-sanctioned status allows LPC and other affected schools to receive the same amount of funding as was provided during the 2017-18 academic year.
“The great thing is that we didn’t lose any of our allocation from the state,” Foster said. “But the challenge is that we’re not able to grow that allocation until we’re able to grow enrollment and have metrics that surpass that funding level.”
Foster said the situation at LPC is not related to federal funding cuts, as uncertainty revolves around the Trump Administration’s efforts to cut funding to institutions. In March, the University of California system announced a system-wide hiring freeze, citing cuts to federal contracts and research grants, including those from the National Institute of Health.
On March 20, the Trump Administration signed an executive order slashing the Department of Education in half, with the exception of programs protected by law. President Trump has proposed eliminating the Department of Education altogether, which will affect several institutions and their funding nationwide. Institutions such as the University of California, Brown University, Duke University, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania have announced hiring freezes to avoid using discretionary funding.
Despite the deficit, Foster said he is confident that LPC will increase its enrollment and state funding, allowing for more flexibility in filling vacant positions. According to Foster, the May revision of the state budget will allow the college to have a better idea of when they can leave hold-harmless status and resume standard hiring practices.
“Once we’re off of hold harmless, then we’re able to increase our revenue as we continue to grow enrollment,” Foster said. “At that point we would remove this suspension of hiring, (and) we would be able to hire vacant positions as they come forward.”
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TOP PHOTO: President Dyrell Foster said LPC is not under a hiring freeze, just prioritizing essential personnel until the budget deficit is under control. (Photo by Ian Kapsalis/The Express)
Raina Dent is a Staff Writer for The Express. Follow her on X, formally Twitter, @_rainasafiya
