PVCC drops programs amid state budget crisis

Piedmont Virginia Community College expects to save $100,000 by discontinuing a degree and two certificate programs.

The cut comes as the state is battling a nearly $3 billion gap in the state’s two-year budget that Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has proposed can be closed by reductions to state agencies.

At PVCC, that has meant a reduction of nearly $1 million in state funding over the last two years. It could also mean loss of roughly another $400,000 if the General Assembly approves another cut proposed recently by Kaine.

The Associate of Applied Science in Computer Aided Drafting and Design degree and two certificates being axed at PVCC are the first to fall under the state budget’s blade since an automotive program stalled around 2000, PVCC President Frank Friedman said.

The loss of the programs will mean letting go one full-time faculty member, Friedman said.

College officials should know by the end of March, what the General Assembly’s final verdict will be on the state budget.

Cuts to support staff (i.e. office personnel) also are likely once the budget is finalized, but decisions on how many cuts to what departments have not been decided, Friedman said.

“It’s my opinion that the governor’s proposal is the best we’re going to do,” he said, adding that it was un-clear what the Virginia Community College System was going to do about in-creasing tuition rates in the coming year to help offset some of the lost money.

To further make up for cuts, PVCC officials said they would also nix “low hanging fruit” like professional development travel and conference expenses for faculty.

Friedman is traveling with some board members and students to meet with state legislators today.

There also will be a moratorium on funding for faculty who want to earn higher degrees.

The college will also switch to a four-day workweek during the summer session, where faculty and staff will work 10-hour days. Officials said they did not have enough classrooms to cut classes back to four days a week during the spring and fall sessions.

There will also be reductions in the money spent on the college’s social functions, notably moving an annual party held at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel back to PVCC’s campus.

“As long as there’s still dancing,” PVCC Board Chairman Walter Levering quipped.

“You can dance, but it might be to my singing,” Friedman shot back.