Last Year's Pie

IV. The Fixed Pie Approach to Productivity Management

Here's how the world works as of today:

• a) Foothill/De Anza is funded by the State of California.
• b) The State has determined the maximum number of FTEF we can offer before we go over our capacity and have to pay over cap ourselves.
• c) The District (FHDA) has decided to manage by FTEF, so we get a certain amount to work with for the academic year.

Think of the amount of funding (FTEF) we are annually allocated as our pie. This year our pie is much smaller than it has been in the past. The most important thing to remember as you ponder all of this is there isn't any extra pie anymore. We have always functioned as if another pie could magically materialize! Hey Presto! More pie!

So, if a class is a piece of the pie, we have to make sure every class fills and is productive. Sure, there are some classes that are necessary and may not reach our productivity goal, but in order to survive, we have to look at how many classes we can offer that are not productive. It has to be a fixed amout, and we have to revisit every single unproductive class and decide if we want to keep it.

So the next question you may have is, "Why didn't we do it this way in the past?", and for that, I have no answer. All I can deal with is today's reality.

Once we run out of pie (FTEF), that's it. So if we offer lots of sections that may be perfectly valid academically, but are unproductive, we are harming ourselves. We will have to cut class offerings in Winter and Spring. This, obviously, takes a human toll, which is what I wanted to avoid this quarter, as this Brave New World presented itself after enrollment had already started. People expected class sections to be there in Fall, and although I was able to cut a few sections, students are flocking to us to get classes that have been cut from colleges and universities on the semester system. I will be limiting course sections for Winter - just because it's in the schedule now, does not mean it will be there when enrollment begins. I need your input.

This Year's Pie

What classes do I have to consider for potential limited offering in the short term? Easy - refer back to the productivity page - classes that don't help us meet our yearly goal will have to be at the top of the list. If one of your classes falls into that category, let's work together to find ways to make it productive. My door is open, this is a level playing field, no one program or department will recieve consideration over another as long as all things are equal, meaning if department A is at 585 productivity, and department B is at 587 productivity, they are both productive. Conversely, if one of the departments is below productivity goals and is trending downwards, it needs to rethink itself and offer fewer sections.

What about next year's pie? Refer to page 2 - it looks to be smaller than this year's pie. We cannot continue to offer the same number of classes we have in the past. It is up to all of us to take a look at what we are doing in terms of what we offer section-wise and plan prudently.