Reader Christine Sheppard of Fayetteville asked some good questions.
We ran a story Jan. 20 about NorthWest Arkansas Community College’s deficit. Sheppard asked, in a letter to the editor, for more context. She asked how big was this deficit compared to other colleges - not in raw dollar totals, but in proportion to other school’s finances.
NWACC had a deficit amounting to 3.65 percent of its total spending in the fiscal year ending June 30.
The next highest of any state-financed two-year college in the last fiscal year was 2.98 percent at Mid South Community College of West Memphis.
No other state two-year college drew on reserves for more than 1 percent of its spending. Fifteen of the state’s 22 two-year colleges had no deficit at all. These figures are from the state Department of Higher Education and are for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Not all two-year colleges are the same, Sheppard’s letter points out. That’s true - but every school is required to have a budget and live within it, whatever its mission or size. That’s a point I’ll repeat later. First, let me note comparing the defi cit figures relative to the other schools makes NWACC look worse than the news story did.
I’m going to give a little disclaimer before I go on, even though it’s mostly my opinion.
Such deficit spending isn’t normal for a community college in Arkansas. We shouldn’t pretend like it is any more than we should ignore it when one of our kids has a fever. Still, $1.5 million in excess to trim is manageable for a college that had $39.2 million in revenue. The college should manage this without doing anything drastic.
So what’s the fallout going forward? Sheppard wants to know: “Though the article notes NWACC’s $39,159,691 in revenue, it does not show exactly how revenue or reserve use affects its budget overall.”
That’s a better issue to raise than the first one. I wish I had the answer.
The impact of NWACC’s deficit in FY 2012 is a serious matter that should be addressed - by the administration and board of the college, with accountability to the taxpayers. For all I know, it is being addressed. We did ask.
The answer we got was that the college would take care of the problem. We’ll keep asking. Sheppard’s not the only one hoping for a much more detailed answer here.
Imprecisely, we all know the effect on the budget.
The college will have to cut its costs, increase its revenue or both. I’m at least as interested in how this will all shake out as anybody.
“Nor does it give the revenue or budgets of the other community colleges or two-year schools,” the letter continues. “Thus, the NWACC shortfall cannot be compared except dollar for dollar, for schools of different size and mission.”
I’m going to repeat a point because it’s important: Whatever a college’s size and mission, it has a budget. So does every publicly funded institution.
NWACC, like every other public institution, has a responsibility to live within its budget.
Sheppard’s right to point out in her letter the state’s system of funding higher education is in very serious need of reform and NWACC doesn’t get its fair share. I’ve made the same point in this column.
The newspaper’s argued it vigorously in its editorials.
The unfairness of state support, however, does not change the fact NWACC had a budget to live on last year. The school’s spending clearly exceeded that budget.
NWACC is fortunate to have enough reserves to cover the shortfall.
However, those reserves were set aside for emergencies. That was their stated purpose. Yet there was no emergency.
You can argue the amount of money NWACC gets isn’t enough to accomplish its mission and it should get more.
You cannot argue the importance or nature of NWACC’s mission frees the school’s administration from budget reality, however harsh.
Speaking of harsh things, it’s hard to convince either lawmakers or voters to give you more money when you can’t stay within the bounds those lawmakers and voters already set.
DOUG THOMPSON IS A POLITICAL REPORTER AND COLUMNIST FOR NWA MEDIA.
Opinion, Pages 12 on 02/03/2013