Dear Colleague,

We have just heard The Washington Federation of State Employees has indicated that its members may receive layoff notices over the coming days as a result of a lack of progress in Olympia regarding the 2017–19 biennial budget. The Executive Team is closely monitoring what is happening regarding progress on the state capital and operating budgets for community and technical colleges.

While we do expect the state capital and operating budgets to be enacted by the close of this fiscal biennium on June 30, 2017, if the budgets are not enacted by this date, the College is in a position to continue to fund salaries, benefits, and other critical expenses for a reasonable period of time. The College is dependent on appropriations from the state for a significant portion of its operations, however, we also have revenues from other sources to fund our operations for the interim, if necessary, until the budget is enacted by the legislature.

We want you to be aware of our situation at the College to help allay any concerns you may have about potential layoff notices for some members of the Washington Federation of State Employees.  This notice does not affect our campus or our employees at this time.  If you have questions, do not hesitate to ask Jerry Owens, Chief Shop Steward for the Classified Union or Stuart Trippel, Senior Executive Director and CFO.

Respectfully,

Cheryl
Cheryl Roberts, Ed.D.
President

A reminder that the campus and campus services will be closed this Mon., May 29 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. The campus will re-open on Tues., May 30. Enjoy the long holiday weekend.