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West Valley Mission District

Budget Assessment & Analysis
Financial Crisis Solution
institutional Effectiveness

SITUATION

In 2008, West Valley-Mission District faced a sudden, unexpected $9 million budget deficit.

Chancellor John Hendrickson requested that California Collegiate Brain Trust: conduct a comprehensive organizational review of the District and provide recommendations of ways to increase revenue and improve operations.
 
CCBT’s consulting team featured Rocky Young, Michael Hill, Shirley Kelly and Larry Toy—along with Jean Malone and Lee Belarmino, who later came in to address some specialized areas. 

CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES

Since this crisis occurred during a year when the ongoing State budget deficit was already creating havoc for colleges, the issues were even more complicated than they would have been in a healthier environment.

Michael Hill comments, “West Valley Mission was in a very difficult situation. The size of the financial problem was significant, unanticipated and developed rapidly. The sudden impact on the District forced them to make decisions in a short period of time.”

While the District faced an incredible opportunity for reinvention, it needed to be prepared to make and implement tough, strategic choices that required them to make changes in the way they did business.  To do that successfully, the District first had to align around the reality of the problem, and then come together for a realistic solution.

Mike continues, “Because the impact was so sudden, our first challenge was to get all of the various stakeholders within the District to buy-in to the reality of the existing problem.“  Rocky adds, “What really stood out to me about this District is that once they aligned around the problem, they really wanted a solution.”

This level of alignment and buy-in for a solution created tremendous opportunity for West Valley Mission District.

STRATEGIC APPROACH

In light of the magnitude of the problem, the focus for CCBT was assisting West Valley Mission in finding solutions that did not cause further financial decline or increase operating costs and ideally offered an improvement in institutional effectiveness.

Select aspects of the strategic approach for this project included:

• Collaborative Discovery, Analysis and Assessment:  While each member of the CCBT team focused on a specialty area, they worked collaboratively, not in silos. Throughout the project they fused the findings and insights of individual team members and took a holistic, collaborative approach in making recommendations.

• Grassroots, Inclusive Involvement: Keeping the mission of the college at the forefront, they worked inclusively and collaboratively with all representative stakeholders, respectful of their shared governance culture.

• FTES Enhancement / Revenue Enhancement: In addition to expenditure reduction, the team also considered a multifaceted approach to enhancing and maximizing FTES; and increasing discretionary revenue.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: To help move the District to a strong paradigm for the future and to clarify their choices and achieve greater buy-in, the team developed a climate of inquiry where decisions are data-driven. This included review and analysis of current institutional research activities and how those are currently coupled to decision-making processes.

This approach, paired with the team’s native intelligence and expertise and empowered by the stakeholders’ buy-in and hard work proved to be highly successful.  Chancellor John Hendrickson says, “The CCBT Team communicated insightfully and worked skillfully and inclusively within our shared governance processes to develop the understanding, confidence and support necessary for the acceptance and implementation of their practical, achievable recommendations.”

OUTCOME & REFLECTIONS

When asked what was most satisfying about this project, Michael Hill commented, “I am pleased that we could give the District workable solutions that received broad support for the conclusions, recommendations and strategies we identified. Also, the District took an impressive command of the situation. They took everything seriously, embraced the recommendations instead of resisting them, and began to implement what they could, as soon as they could.”

“Most importantly, “ Rocky adds,  “It worked.  This was a project with measurable outcomes and a very specific goal, and the District has made progress toward that goal. “

Chancellor John Hendrickson reflects, “As a result of CCBT’s efforts, our people are working together in a more collaborative way. Our colleges and district have made and will continue to make remarkable improvements as they increase revenues while working toward greater efficiencies. I feel confident that our goals will be achieved, and that CCBT’s work will positively impact both the short-term and long-term success of our district. “

To read the full West Valley-Mission District Accolade click here.