Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Brittney Barsotti Jason Morris (upper right), chair of the College Enrollment Management Committee, teaches his Calculus class on Wednesday March 10. The physical number of classes will not increase for the next academic year.

According to school officials, the number of courses offered will not increase for the 2010 to 2011 academic year.
LPC is forced to ratchet down the number of teaching hours due to budget cuts, according to Jason Morris, chair of the College Enrollment Management Committee (CEMC). Cutting teaching hours could mean less classes offered for next year.
"Classes are one of the last areas we want to cut," said Laurel Jones, Vice President of Academic Services. "This is because there is so much student need and demand. We are given an allotment of dollars to spend on classes and we live within that budget."
Morris said that LPC is not cutting the number of "sections" per se, as they are cutting the Full-Time Equivalent Faculty (FTEF). FTEF is how the school calculates teaching hours, and thus, how much is spent on teachers' salaries.
Every 15 teaching hours represents one FTEF. For the 2009-2010 year, the target was 7,300 FTEF, Morris said.
The goal currently is to get the number down to about 7,000. This number was given by the district to meet budget requirements.
If the 7000 is met, then the schedule can be created. If it is exceeded, then the school is forced to make cuts. Making cuts to teaching hours is a collaborative effort between the faculty and administration. Morris said the process for cuts begins with the faculty.
The faculty adds up their teaching hours, and after input from the deans, gives the numbers to the CEMC. Each division is evaluated by the district, which determines if cuts are needed.
Each division is calculated independently.
Morris said that the physical education department, for example, might have to cut more that the math or science department. Math courses are worth more than physical education courses, in terms of FTEF value, than physical education courses.
Vice President of Students Services Pam Luster said agrees with Morris about the number of classes.

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