Board of Trustees Meeting: July 16th, 2026

X. And let the minutes reflect we Jesse Okay. We want to give it a minute. Okay. We're going to wait just one moment um for trustee Johnson to arrive here. There you go. Uh again, it's July 16th, 2026. This is the study session for the Highline Board of Trustees. Let the minutes reflect that currently we have present uh trustee Sacheri, trustee Bowman, and um trustee Ekstrom. And myself, trustee Swenson. I think uh Jesse uh trustee Johnson will be soon to join here. Uh but we are going to get into our first topic on the agenda, which is the preliminary fiscal budget reviews. So uh without further ado, I will hand it off to Dr. Pham. >> Yeah, good morning. Uh and and thank you. Um uh and I also wanted to say that we are doing things a little bit differently today because of the rain outside. So this this presentation uh uh we we didn't go through the actual visual in the past when uh whenever we did the uh the uh the the board uh uh budget, but why not just, you know, change things a little bit. So with that um uh um we I mean uh I didn't have a chance to send the presentation to all of you uh in advance, but you have the full package of of the budget that most of the information in the package is actually going to be um on this presentation anyway. Hopefully. Uh but uh so with that uh if I may just start uh from the very basics, uh you know, like like how uh how you know, how does Highline College uh uh uh get our money? How are we funded? So, for the uh fiscal year budget 2027, the package uh that I provided to you, you can see that these are the the categories. Uh state allocations as of 2017 uh will be only accounting for less than 52% of our total revenue budget. Uh tuition, 14.4, running start, 12.6, and then international students could be bringing in approximately about 4.1%. And then the remainders are all from various grants, various self-funded programs, uh which makes up for um uh about uh 17% 17.2% uh of of the total budget. Um Also, and this is also always my commentary is about, you know, like since I've been in the system for so long, prior to 2010, prior to the uh great uh recession, a typical community college uh budget would have uh probably about between 70 to 80% of state funding. And so, in what am I what am I what am I talking about? 16 years, uh we're down to uh less than 52% and um I guess, you know, like if uh what happens if, you know, like a couple years from now when state allocation drops uh or drop below 50%, then what are we still state funded or state affiliated or what? I don't know, but Uh next. Uh and then just going, you know, like up up what a little bit. Uh uh you know, since we're talking about where do our money come from, um where does our money come from? Uh as of 2025-27, the state by annual budgets, uh there are three budgets in in the in Washington state. Uh there's the biggest one, which is the operating budget, has 150 a little bit over 150 billion dollars, and we have a separate capital, uh and then transportation uh budget separately. Uh we are only going to be talking about uh operating budget today. We might touch a little bit on the capital because that has to do with uh with what we'll be talking about in our executive session, but the mainly for this presentation, we are talking about the operating budget side of the house. Uh again, just you know, talking about a little bit more about, you know, uh uh the state funding. Um even though uh the the total state by annual budget is $150 billion, only 50% of it or roughly $77 billion of it actually what they call the general fund. Uh you know, like whenever you you you hear see or you hear on the news about, "Oh, the state revenue this and state revenue that and cut." They're only talking about the $77 billion billion of it. The other remainders are uh dedicated, you know, like the federal matching funds and things like that. And then so so really they uh they the legislature and the governor uh don't have a lot of of control over that. So, we're only talking about half of our state budget, which is in the near general fund. Um And then we we we we will send you the uh the presentation as well uh afterward. And here's a quick uh distribution of of where, you know, like the uh the where that $77 billion uh how the state uh uh distributes uh uh them. And you can see that uh by by law, by state constitution, human services uh K-12 uh took up like the majority. Uh uh if you if you add the first three line on there, you're talking about it's like 60-something billion dollars already. So, um higher education has uh higher education that include all of our 34 uh our state uh community and technical colleges plus the six universities. So, uh we have $6.2 billion or 8% of that budget and then So that's you know, like I guess that's not surprising about how how how little the state is funding higher education, but the next line is where some people are kind of surprising how much that we actually spend on on corrections. Uh Uh five $5 billion. Um So I I I I teach every so often I teach a public finance a course at the University of Washington. So a lot of this information I'm actually recycling for my for my for my class, but typically I would ask you know, like in terms of comparison the state educate of the 30 of our system plus the six university over 200,000 FTE full-time equivalent students and we got funded uh $6.3 billion, $6.2 billion. So that's roughly average of about $3,000 per student per biennium and about or roughly about $1,500 per year per per annum. On on the other hand with the corrections um they have 14,000 state inmates right now and this is only for the state. We're not talking about the local uh jails and things like that. So that's the equivalent about $340,000 to house each inmate every biennium. So that's like 100 I don't know 100 $50,170,000 a year. There's something wrong with our priorities as as a society. Just That's again just just a commentary on the side. Um next. Uh and then just you know, again just very quickly to touch on on on the capital budget because this is may serve as as a little bit of background. Again, K-12 that that's the big chance. So, this is where where the the legislature is is treating us kind of a little bit better than the operating side. So, of our, you know, like the the six universities and then the community college system, we get 1.3 versus the K-12 was 1.6. For community college system of the 1.3, we get about 350 million dollars per biennium. That it is so it's not very very big because the six university would get like 75% of the capital funding whereas the 34 community colleges, where we actually educate 60% of the total higher education students in the state, we get like 25% of the the capital budget. So, again, that just only serves as as a for FY as a background for what will be discussing next. And then just you know, within the higher education appropriations in terms of the where everyone is, you can see you know, obviously University of Washington, they they are the flagship. So, they get the most money whereas our community college system is is down a bit, you know, like two two two billion dollars or a little bit over, you know, I almost a billion dollars a year plus the dedicated account. So, our system as a whole 34 community and technical colleges, we get roughly about 2.4 billion dollars in the biennium out of the total of 6.something, a third. Not not too bad, but comparatively speaking, that's pretty little. Where where where we educated like the most of I'm sorry, this one is is very very tiny. So, we'll we'll we'll just send this. So, I just provided the state board allocation schedule of all where 34 community college community and technical colleges and Highline is is um is highlighted there. But, the next the next slide probably will be Oh, it's still very very Uh I don't know if you can see it all, but so off the $1.2 billion uh uh that is in the pot for this for the fiscal year 27, Highline College gets about 48 .8 million dollars $49 million. That information is in the your board package or roughly about 3. Um 3.8 3.9%. I I uh I made a comparison with some of our nearby uh colleges. Green River, for example, they get about 4%. Uh you can see Lake Washington Bellevue uh uh gets about 5.1 and then uh Seattle and and uh uh Pierce and those are multi um campus district. Seattle gets like 9.something percent of the of of the budget. So, just strictly for comparison purposes only. Um And then just in terms of the uh uh uh of the fiscal year 27 with the supplemental budget that that is now law right now. Um so, here are some of the highlights. Um In terms of COLAs, our faculty are the I-732 employees, which which uh includes all of our faculty on campus, uh they would get a 2.6% COLA increase uh effective July 1st. For everybody else, uh that will be a 2% and then for our classified staff, similarly they get a 2%, but they will also be getting uh retroactive pay. So, remember last year they they uh because of the um of the uh delays, let me put it like that, in the uh the uh and and other uh uh issues, then they they did not get a COLA last year, but this year they the legislature provided both the cola increase for 2027, but also a retroactive pay of 3%. However, with all colas provided by the system, we are required to provide the colas to everyone, but the state is only paying 79% of it. So, the other 21% that we have to make up, you know, by by our own tuition other local dollars. Um In terms of some of the I would say like minor, but it it really depends on the institution that may be impacted. Uh Uh centers of excellence. They are There were 11 11 centers of excellence in our system. Highline had the center of excellence for global trade and supply chain management, and that was So, all of the centers were the funding was eliminated. Uh There There was or there is also a general administrative reduction of roughly 1.5% very very minor, but it is not a across-the-board cut of the same um same amount. So, some institution may may may may get reduced a little bit more than percent. And again, it it it is just really based on dependent on the how the funding uh structure at each of the our colleges. Uh Running Start, there was a slight Well, not that slight, but roughly translating to about a 7.2 reduction, but those mainly uh uh uh targeted at the the summer uh quarter. So, that again may have an impact on high high student who are trying to finish you know, with the extra summer quarter so they can graduate. So, we still need to see the final impact. Um And then let's see. There was and as trustees you may have heard that there was a uh I don't know. It's actually it's a demand but that we have to submit a recommendation for uh um I guess consolidation even though they they they worded a very differently and in fact tomorrow state board will be meeting right here. Our state board representatives will be talking meeting right here to discuss efficiency study which is exactly what what that that last um >> I do want to clarify that it will not be all of the presidents and chancellors. There are um representative number of um presidents and chancellors that have worked with the state board who have been identified. Um Nate Humphrey from the state board will be here. Others from state board. So, just want to clarify that. I will be on campus tomorrow to in to welcome them to say hello. But we have WAC next week and so I anticipate that we will get some feedback with regard to the efficiency report if they're ready to share some information out. Um we have some pretty some of the heavy hitters in the system who have been around for some time, who have a little bit of um seniority who will be in the room and we at the last meeting >> you turn your mic around? >> Oh, I'm sorry. At the last WAC meeting we did have some and I I wasn't there. That was when with Dr. Mosby. But I did review the minutes and I do understand that there was some pretty a conversation about inquiries that that folks wanted um those representatives to bring forward. So, I I just wanted to share that with you. Um that won't be a meeting that I am attending, but it I will have some feedback later on. Yes, I have a note. >> And in terms of of, you know, as the college uh and our executive cabinet uh with working with back and then representatives throughout the campus uh for the budget planning objectives of this year, uh we established two uh objectives. One of them uh the first one is strategic retention of students and personnel. Obviously, this is important. We want to make sure that we investing in uh initiatives, programs, and our support system that that make sure that we strengthen recruitment and then, you know, to to ensure long-term retention of both uh students and employees because it it it cost money to recruit them. And then if if we brought them here and then we if we we don't do our job and then they left and it cost more money to uh and, you know, to to to get replacement or or new students. Uh Uh so, that is important. And then the say the second uh uh priority is enhancement of our infrastructure uh both physical and non-physical. And when we talking about physical, obviously, the buildings uh that we're in. Uh uh uh uh Uh Highline um has some an aging facility uh infrastructure. And then with non-physical, unfortunately, nowadays, uh there's a lot of non-physical that cost a lot of money, which is our software system uh uh things like that or just our business processes are very very expensive. And just we just want to make sure that that we uh that we have adequate uh investments in in in in those areas. Next. Let me look at my notes a little bit. Oh, uh uh and just in terms of very quickly in terms of our budget planning process, uh like uh what we have done in the past, uh uh uh you know, once the the um once uh the college has established our budget planning >> Why are we watching the way you >> [laughter] >> And what what once we have established our budget planning priorities, then um then Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. And then so the the task, um uh uh so then then the I know. God, I I should stand up and and and dance or something like that, but that's okay. Not not not today. Uh not not today. Yeah. Yeah, gosh. People people pay to sign up to take my classes. Okay. Um uh and then so we we have a kickoff uh a budget planning kickoff for the whole campus on April in in early April. And uh so each of the exact or what we call division uh administrators, each of us here in executive cabinet, is responsible for leading the budget planning uh process uh uh within our uh respective area. Uh next. Uh and and those are the the task of of our budget planning process uh uh at the division level. We we we want to make sure that we engage the stakeholders. Uh and then, you know, we review budget uh the current you know, you know, the the uh 2020 uh 6 budget uh department budgets, uh review of positions, and we try to identify any potential uh budget savings. And then, as necessary, we have to do some reallocation of resources. And finally, uh we submit a list of uh prioritized uh uh uh budget requests to the executive cabinet as a whole. Um Next. Uh and then just in terms of what we do as as executive cabinet, um I don't know if I can call this like my favorite time of the year, but you know, like >> [laughter] >> I mean, it was like a lot of time spent on the budget in the in the 3 months in spring quarter, but uh we I mean, it's it's important task. I mean, as as leaders of of the college, we try to do our best. We rank the um the budget proposals and then we send it to our budget advisory council, uh uh uh who, you know, comprises of of, you know, uh various stakeholders and representations throughout the the campus for them to uh to provide feedback uh and then return the uh the feedback and recommendations back to our interim president, uh and then C&I sat down uh uh uh you know, discuss things and then uh uh Dr. Pan made decisions and then she communicated that to the the campus and then I um am responsible putting everything together and then we hosted a a final campus budget forum in in early June to communicate all of those out to to the campus community. Uh and here is the list of the budget advisory council. And And all of this information is actually uh is is in the uh the budget package that that that you have. You can see that. It's We have all of the major division organization including our union reps uh are listed on there. Oh, and and this really one is also it's it's very important as as, you know, like what we do here is not just um so the budget advisory committee, I mean, we we just really want to ensure that that we have a transparent process and that's the reason why you have we have, you know, everybody, the union reps, all information that we that we share to the the campus, you know, like the union rep will have an opportunity to come and talk with us, all the divisions. Again, that that that's the reason why we have such a large uh budget advisory council, but they they really work really really well. I just have to say. Uh and then the budget planning calendar, uh you can see that uh today, after we have done everything uh uh drafted the the budget uh uh completed by June 25th. I I don't quite remember if I actually got it by the by 25th, but like around 29th or something like that. In like 2 days when we are presenting this to you right right here at at at the board. Um Uh and also again, this uh the information is listed in the uh the the packet. Uh after all of the the budget planning, uh this is um last year, uh just after you know, for your information, last year we were expecting uh some challenges, so we did not entertain any budget requests last year. And also hearing from the campus, where we have we have, you know, like both camps. Uh one camp would be saying, you know, like we have to invest in additional support, in additional infrastructure. Uh uh therefore, we we should allow the uh the budget request process. The other camp, and this is also coming from budget advisory council, is that maybe given the uncertainty, we should not be entertaining um uh uh any budget uh more budget requests, but uh as executive cabinet reviewing, you know, like the hour uh uh since since we we may not be facing uh uh uh cuts, like major cuts from the state, and also in terms of the needs of the campus. Uh therefore, we uh we proceed with uh allowing the the budget request process for this year. And these are there were like a total of 20 22 21 uh prioritized uh requests that came to executive cabinet. We did our own rankings, sent it to um budget advisory council. They came back with um with with their own recommendation. And Dr. Payne as in the interim president made the final decision. So you can you can subsequently of the office of civil rights or the ADA compliance plan. I think I put a little bit more detail in the budget book, but we we got an audit a year back in January December of January of of this year and they made several recommendations and because we our campus is such an old campus. There were things that can easily be fixed like adjusting ADA accessible sink paper towel dispenser to things regrading the entire campus to make it you know like not uphill. That's not possible. So again we yeah we it is going to be a multi-year compliance plan that we submitted to the state and they accepted it but this is just the initial year so we starting out with with what do you call like the low hanging fruit with $75,000 to do the easy the easy fix. The mentioned earlier about the non-physical infrastructure ITS software security software. So this is not how much this is like in addition to to a lot of money that Tim already spending right Tim? We So this is like $200,000 more per year. He's asked he was asking for more but that's all we can afford is is $200,000 on top of that. The next one is the houses student housing retention specialist. We have a grant from King County right now to provide um um grants to students to unhoused or like students at risk so they they they can they can they can try to put them into our student housing for example so that position will be responsible for for administering or assisting with with the program. Um Steve is here. I don't know if if you want to say anything, but El Cap in the last couple of years uh has faced kind of like quite uncertainty with uh with with some of their grants and uh this year because of the the immigrants immigrant immigrant and refugee grant from the state being cut by 200 a little bit over $200,000, so he's asking for Well, he was asking for a lot more, but we can only afford to give him $200,000. So, this money will be used to offer class sections, so we can continue to provide those ABE ESL um uh courses to to our students, which we have a long list of waiting uh here at Highline College. Uh B10 classroom furniture upgrade, so this is one of you know, like this is kind of to really support our the the the infrastructure improvement uh priorities. We have roughly about 100 classrooms on campus, and later when you walk across, many of them is in that that kind of of of of uh state. Uh so, this So, this is to to to to literally uh to go in and do a renovation, even though it said a classroom uh furniture upgrade, uh but actually TM is also investing in um uh AV AV equipment, and our facilities will be spending some money to repainting, replacing worn carpets, things like that. So, uh that will provide us with 9 to 10 kind of like more modernized uh classrooms, make it more inviting. Um And then uh so so yeah, so that that was you know, we hope the plan is that every year we can, you know, so we have 100 classrooms. If we were to do 10 classroom a year, uh so every 10 years, and then then then we would have like a brand new set of classroom furniture in in all of the classrooms. Uh It is an an ambitious plan. I don't know if if we can actually do that, but we'll we'll we'll see. So we're going to start out with with this one first. Um center of of business center of global business education. So earlier when we talked about the this the the center of excellence being eliminated in in funding at Highline College here, we are trying to see if we can um uh uh get, you know >> We are turning to jobs. >> Sure. For um transitioning from a state board-funded Center of Excellence to our self-funded Center for Global Business Education, which will still focus on global trade supply chain, but it will really support Highline's business management program and all and in fact all of our Sorry. Sorry about that. The Center for Global Business Education will provide support for our business programs here. It will be a bridge between our Small Business Development Center and Start Zone. It will work with our local business community, especially port-impacted businesses, and what we're working to leverage that $62,000 from the college to get other outside funding. So we have a community-funded request to Adam Smith's office. If the federal budget passes this fall, that's a big if, but if it does, there are some funding that would come to support the center there. We've been having meetings with the Port of Seattle to expand our interlocal agreement that provides support for the Small Business Development Center to also include funding for this center, and that would be next spring when that funding would start. And the biggest thing is we have some funding we received last summer from a private foundation to support entrepreneurship education, and a portion of those funds would help support this first year for the Center for Global Business. And we have a second request to that same foundation that we're waiting to hear if if they'll provide. So, we have enough money to who um to operate for a year and see what we're able to do to identify sustaining money similar to way that we do our small business development center and and our start zone programs. >> I'm going to skip right down to the to my two last item on there is the controller position that we asking. So, how at Highline College we currently we you know we have not had a dedicated internal controller position for forever and given the there are quite a few new financial requirements coming from the state with the student debt collection, with this and that and then with the accreditation requirements we felt that it would be best for us to again we trying to look at look at future risk here and we felt that it's important for us to to to to have a dedicated controller. Plus our finance staff is pretty small anyway. Where where we feel that yeah this this is a much needed position for the college. Now, the question is so all of the the personnel cost that you see up there that is inclusive of benefits which means that for example if we hiring somebody at the budget is 180, 120,000 dollars 30% 33% of that is benefits alone. So, the position is probably like 80 something thousand dollars or 90. In this day and age I don't know if we can we can get like a very very good controller for for that cost. But we will try. Let me put it like that. And then the last two items that were submitted as a budget request and thanks to Justin the foundation we cannot we don't have the the the the college budget to to to to to incorporate them this year but we have a community pantry uh that is in the location that is expanding the in need of either additional space or just uh uh some Actually, it's not just minor some some significant renovation. Uh uh 300 and something thousand dollars. Josh, as the foundation has volunteered maybe once we have identified a location on campus, our foundation can work to raise money to support that. The foundation doesn't have to $7,000 to pay for that right now. Am I correct, Josh? >> Right. We don't have the money right now. >> [clears throat] >> And then, in terms of Mount Towns, and the audio system or the video system in there is a big project, but also right now we just just don't have the the the budget to do it. So, the foundation is stepping up to help us with that because that is a space that's in the student union building where all of our major events, activities are taking place in there. So, our team is working on what >> August. We didn't have quite enough money. So, the 75,000 is unfortunately a fraction of that project, and the foundation filled the gap because we had probably 80 75 to 80% of the funding set aside, and we just needed to get us over the hump. >> Our total increase in our budget commitment is a little bit over a million dollars. Uh Dan- Danielle, next, please. >> Uh before you move forward, Dr. Pham, I do want to say something and take Going back and taking a look at that 150, you all are taking a look at the classroom as we walk across, you look at the furniture. 150 uh every year over the next 10 years, by the time we get to that, we'll be right back where we started and needing to. So, we are very much in the preliminary stages of having conversations. Uh Josh and Michael and I have talked a bit about this, but, you know, looking again at opportunities for partnering with external agencies, organizations, naming rights to rooms, you know, would you like to and so I've been talking with Josh about that. I've not yet presented to him. We need we need to do a little bit more time to look at that. But you know, that is something that I'm sure that the foundation partners and or external organizations would benefit. Of course the board would be brought in on that because when we're talking about, you know, naming and going forward. So we'll we'll we'll explore that a little bit more but we've had some preliminary conversations about that because we won't be able to do it with 150. Not with Fidelity that we would need to. Thank you. >> And then yeah, but please feel free to you know, like if if I'm too boring and too long then cut me off and then we can just jump right to the the the end. In addition to those budget requests of a little over a million dollars, there are other commitments to our budget this year. The faculty salary increase, we agree as part of the CBA that everybody will get a thousand dollars as part of their base salary. So that's that's a permanent money going forward. 1,000 this year and that will be on top of 1,000 out for for a long long time. Also in terms of the what we had agree a couple contracts ago with the part-time faculty pay increase and that going to be adding about 3% or 354,000 dollars to it. We asked agree to another negotiation with the faculty in in mid-August once we wrapped up the fiscal year. So that number may increase, may change. In terms of our classified staff as part of the agreement that we signed last year, we are providing one-time a 1500 dollar incentive signing incentive payment to all of our classified staff. That's like 150, 160 classified staff all together. So that's going to be around $250,000 increase on our budget and then uh the last one, the exempt compensation study. So, um this is this is a budget commitment, but we have not uh uh uh so, we did the So, back in uh late summer last year, we we launched a exempt compensation study to assess evaluate whether our exempt employees right now would you know like how they are doing in terms of of market uh wise. We set aside 1% of the total budget for for our exempts, like $167,000. Um uh but we are as of right now due to various other uh uh uh activities that uh it it it's uh we the money is just set aside, but it's not it's actually not truly committed to anything right now because of the uh unionizing efforts as well as some of the other discussions that that will be taking place. Uh next, please. Oh, um to to to the the last thing I know this this is a really small amount, but we really have to make a commitment. Uh up until up until recently, uh if an employee uh needed to to be accommodated, uh uh they would have to ask our HR for an ergonomic uh assessment. We have to do an evaluation and then, you know, like then we provide the the either a lift desk or whatever chairs that that necessary for them to to really work. Uh executive cabinet has decided you know what? Let's go ahead and skip the uh the evaluation process altogether. We're going to buy the Our intention is to replace all of the work desks with ADA ergonomic compliance furniture going forward. So, every year we're going to buy a set of, you know, 10 or uh nine set of of of ergonomic furniture going forward and then when an employee requests it, one, uh then we're just going to provide that. Now, with all All the renovation on campus, where where wherever we go and then renovate offices, they all automatically will get will get ADA ergonomic furniture automatically. So, this is only for retro or for people who who are not, you know, moving or not getting into new offices. Uh capital uh This will need to be a separate conversation because this will take a lot of time. So, we definitely would like to ask, you know, more time maybe uh in in the year to to to to discuss uh but um yeah, so that that will be a separate conversation altogether. Uh so, the budget is uh is in front of you. This is in the um in in the budget book. Uh uh we are proposing our revenue budget of roughly I can't see it that far, but it looks to be like around 94 million dollars for the fiscal year 27. Uh this is an increase of roughly 3.5 million dollars from the budgeted uh uh 2026. In September, when we uh uh come back to you with the finalized version, what you will see is the compare of the projected versus the actual. So, right now, we we don't have the actual uh year end uh fiscal 26 just yet. So, we only compare to the uh the budgeted portion, but in September, we will come back with that that column instead of just budgeted 2025-26, it will be actual, you know, year end information. Next. Um Uh I ask So, the the the project the the fiscal year 27 that we asking for you right now, uh we expect the numbers to be very very like like exactly where where they are. There may be a reduction in in in the expenditures side, but on the revenue side, 94.4 is actually I think that is where we we we we will be ending with. On the on the year end for the 2025-26, those numbers will change because I think we actually I do a we're doing a lot better than budgeted. So, I would say that like even for taking example of the tuition, we are actually collecting about 13.something million dollars for last year. So, the the on the on the on the Yes, exactly. Yeah. So, the revenue will will will will probably will be larger than what you are seeing as budgeted. Which which is we always wanted to to have that, right? On the next page, yeah, so on on the expenditures side, we hope that it's going to be smaller, but but then again, I think we we we don't quite know for sure right now. But just in terms of where we asking, I can't see it very it looks like it's going to be like a 95. Um 0.8 million dollars expenditure budget that we asking, and it is an increase of roughly 4. 4.something is sorry, it's like yeah. Uh yeah, so Uh Okay. Thank you, Dr. Pan. And the next page, I like again all of the the the categories that you have there. We're going to be spending a little bit more time in September to go actually not not the background, but just on on the the the budget itself. So, you know, with that with the proposals in front of you, there's actually if you take the revenue minus the expenditure, then there is actually a net deficit of 1.3 million dollars. However, we are fully expecting for the fiscal year 25-26 to have a surplus. Therefore, we would be using the surplus to carry forward to to balance the budget. Is everybody following? Yes. And so, we would have a balanced budget by by using the the surplus from this year again. What you're seeing up there is just the budget aside, but in September we'll bring forward to you the actual um uh uh year-end numbers. Uh with that, quick summary, uh next, please. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh >> You can go You can go ahead, Travis. Did you have a question? >> Yeah, just on and thank you, Dr. Pham, for walking through all of this. Um in terms of the projected budget um are we able to reflect in the budget a that the carry forward funds will be part of it, so we will not be proposing a negative budget for board approval? >> That is correct. So, the ones that you will get in September will be a balanced budget because then by then we will know how much money that we have found from 2025-2026. >> Perfect. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. That That's a very good point. Thank you very much. Uh so just uh a summary of what we have done at at at in terms of our budget planning process for the year. As we mentioned, we really wanted to to invest in our faculty, our staff to ensure that we can continue to have adequate levels of service to our students, uh investment in in our infrastructure and facilities. Unfortunately, we do have to rely on on some carry forward funds to make it work. And then uh lastly, and this was like a message that uh Dr. Pham, I, and executive cabinet, we we really uh we really emphasized to the to the campus uh during our campus forums that we we really need to make sure that we retain our students and generate more uh to to make sure that we have long-term sustainability of of Highline College. Right now, comparatively speaking, we are in a very very good spot due to some of our peers, but we want to make make sure that we continue to be in good in a strong financial position going forward. Um next, please. Uh th- this is just uh slide for transparency purpose because our college uh campus community uh uh has has always wanted to emphasize that we want to be transparent, so I just want to make sure that the information uh is available. Um this is in your uh in in your your your packet. I We uh once I submitted I actually saw that we I made a a small mistake, but I will I will get to that. So, as of uh July 2026, uh Highline College employs roughly over 900 faculty and staff, and this is inclusive of all employees. Full-time faculty, part-time faculty, full-time class, everyone including, you know, and but the information, the data you see below are just for our full-time uh uh people as as presented. The data is right there. We have 145, and then these are only for active contracts. So, if if they have vacancies and then we don't count them in, but we right now we don't have a lot of vacancies anyway. Melanie and HR have done such a good job in the last few years that I remember like a couple of years ago we we came to you and I always said that there were so many vacancies, but they have hired people so quickly that now I said, "Melanie, slow down. Save me some money." But anyhow, that that's just a joke. Yeah, very few vacancies left right now. 145 tenure full-time faculty. The lowest salaries, this would be like the newly hired at the lowest at the salary scale, $75,000 to the highest $129, median is $104,000. So, median is like 50% of the the 100 those are 445 we making more than 104,000 and then 50% of the all of the faculty faculty full-time we're making less than the average is 105 and these are only these are actually these are the contracts only not not actual earnings. These are for 9-month contract and they don't include if the the faculty are teaching moonlights or or extra summer courses. And then in terms of lecturers I don't know if if so lecturers are short-term full-time equivalent. But they are not tenure and obviously they they are paid lower. So, we have 21 of them right now and they are typically being paid about 82 no less than 82% of a full-time equivalent. So, the lowest pay is 47 752 and I looked at it and I said why that is pretty low who's teaching us actually apparently it's a business faculty and then 102 is the highest and is a nursing lecturer. Again, health care. And in terms of the staff data so so I had to make a correction on the staff data because I miss downloaded a couple of the the the the positions got switched from one one this is compared to the the information on your on your booklet and I will resubmit a correction afterwards but these are all full-time classified staff and exempt staff only and then it's just in terms of exempt exempt salary data we decide not to include the interim president's salary because technically she is your only employee and also you know by including her the base could be the actual average. So, we have a hard total of 155 classified staff excluding a couple um vacancies and probably about six or seven part-time uh classified staff. Uh uh the lowest salary on this roughly about 43, 44,000 dollars uh which is actually our beginning custodial custodian. Uh highest salary for a classified staff on campus is 124,000 dollars annually. These are all 12 months uh uh uh uh salaries uh and um no surprise uh one of Tim's uh ITS uh employees obviously IT personnel there. We we do have to to pay them roughly to the market uh Uh and then median again is about 62.7 thousand dollars and average is about 60 68. I think. The I the IT employees uh uh do do uh skew that a little bit in terms of And then oops. In terms of exam we have uh as of Is that number right there? 193 uh uh uh right now as as full-time they are uh six six uh less than full-time that I uh did not include in there. Uh lowest salary there is 56,000 and highest is is 2004. Um so the lowest salary there is actually I looked it up to see what what Oh yeah who who uh who So that is an outlier. Uh it is a unique position. It's uh it's our aquar- aquar- aquarist? Something like that. The the person who works with the uh the the aquarium. Uh and that is the only unique position that that is kind of outlier but uh our advisors currently would be the group at the lowest uh uh uh uh scale of the uh salary scale and they all uh start around a little bit over $59,000 annually. The highest salary is obviously one of our vice presidents uh uh here and then you can see the uh median median is uh 79,560. Again, so that is where I'm in the middle and then average is about 97 on the exempt side of the house. Uh And lastly, next page. Uh enrollment targets uh uh this was communicated to the the campus. We are uh in terms of where we are in 2025-26 and if you make the budget work, we really need uh to generate another 371 something FTEs for next year. Uh this doesn't sound that big uh but it will take some work to get there. >> And just as a general reminder with FTE, it's one student taking 15 credits or a combination of three students taking 15 or any iteration of that. So, that's what we're looking at. We really focus on uh FTE head count matters, but we need to make sure that those students are you know, taking classes and so the target areas that you see here are what we continually reiterate and I was having some dedicated conversation with the college community to say that we really need to be on top of this from the not just the executive cabinet, you know, our VPs, all of our deans, associate deans, all the way through. It's going to take all of us to move the needle um on this and it's it's paramount. This is how we will stay above above the fray. >> Uh lastly, >> There's another question. >> Oh. >> Travis. >> I yeah, I can't see from here. Go go ahead uh Trustee uh Ekstrom. >> Sorry to interrupt. Um Dr. Penn, I haven't been able to hear you the last few times you've been speaking. I've been pinging people in the room, but >> I I apologize. Is this better? >> That is so much better. I can hear you. >> Okay. I have the microphone >> I missed all three of your comments. >> I will say just quickly that with regard to FTE, what I clarified to Trustee Ekstrom is that FTE is what we really focus on. Head count is important, but it's the FTE that gives us the return, the funding. And that one FTE for instance is one student for example taking 15 credits or any iteration combination that leads to 15. So, it takes 15 to make one FTE. And and I apologize for that. I just had the microphone on the table, so um Thanks for letting me know that. I'll hold it in the future. >> Uh and then just lastly, you know, I've been doing this for so long, so my crystal ball has been pretty, pretty accurate. So, I'm hoping that as you do, you know, like that that I can continue to be able to read beyond, but I I can say that um we are actually will be in for tougher times. The state budget is in really, really in a bad spot. Um so so I can see that there's probably there's there will be some some reduction, some some changes in in in the next biennium uh going forward. Some of the revenue, some of our uh uh specific appropriation probably will be impacted. Guided Pathways, there have been a discussion about maybe the the state will just combine all of the earmarks and provisions and just eliminated them all. Um uh to to balance the state budget, so uh that could be a challenge beyond 2027. And also as the the state will has effectively roll out a new state allocation model among the our 34 colleges highlighted for the first year will be we actually will be benefited from it but since it is a an ongoing performance base that that could change. So we will have to continue have to do a better job of of of of ensuring that that we have that that we meet our FTE targets uh and then with you know new no new major capital improvement uh we come in anytime here in the next probably 10 years uh we will have some some some major challenges here with uh dealing with our aging facility infrastructure. Uh and then just in terms of of expenditure projection labor cost is will continue to increase while you know like the the the data the salary data that that we provided there I would say that comparatively speaking looking at the numbers we say oh our employees is not not doing too bad but but the cost of living just very very expensive and some of our employees are just really struggling so Dr. Pan >> Oh. >> Yes. And then yeah and then you know like everything else that you can see on there again just cannot emphasize enough but capital infrastructure is expensive. And that's all I have. And sorry that I went on too long too boring but needed information. >> Any additional any additional questions from the trustees? >> A couple of years ago there was an overpayment of sort and I've been resurfacing this question for the last few years at one particular time I think you thought they were going to come and ask for most of it, and then there was a conversation around allocations or, you know, disbursements of in smaller sequences. Uh is there an update on that or have we been forgiven and released or where are we? >> Yeah, thank thank you for that question. So, um not the the year prior to to last year, uh uh OFM uh made a a missed an error mistake. They over uh uh uh allocated money to us, and there were discussions about that. They actually wanted for us to pay back. Uh luckily, uh uh in as as the the legislature decided that in 2024, that whatever money that was allocated to us already, they would not ask for it back, but they would take it out. They So, they took it out of actually fiscal year 25. So, right off the top, but we didn't have to pay for for the over allocated amount back. Yes, so thank you. So, that that has been settled. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Pam. Oh, thank you. I did have a question. This was really great kind of prepared for the discussions in September. Earlier in your presentation when you showed the chart of the allocations of the nearby community colleges, I was wondering if you could just share how did who decides those allocations and how do those requests come in? Is that how are they determined? >> Yeah, so so our Thank you, that's a very good question. There's a long history um prior to I came here in 2015. So, prior to 2016, the the the internal the the state board allocation system happened just because of historical. There was like no rhyme, no reason one college would be average could be we could be funding roughly $5,000 per FTE and another college nearby would be allocating $7,000 average per FTE. There was no rhyme and reason because that happened since 1960 something when the system came into place. In 2016, the system implemented the first revise of our allocation model and that tried you know tried to shift to might to equalize the funding based on FTE target. So, each college could be assigned an FTE target and then the funding would be based on the FTE target and the FTE targets were drafted based on historical. And so at that time Bates Technical College some of the smaller college were actually were really hurting because they they were not generating so so 10 years later um as of right now. So, the the intention was that you would be as the funding would be based on FTE targets and if you over generating the targets then you could be getting more money from the colleges that that that under generated. However, if nobody meets FTE targets then there's there's no changes. Well, so I don't know if somebody actually actually I was involved in that in designing that model. Well, maybe we we we may have like expected that nobody actually would be meeting our FTE targets. So, for the last 10 years we implemented this model nobody in the system actually met our our FTE target. So, no funding changes since 2016. Recently the the presidents the again looked at it and kind of said, "You know, that that's not fair. Let's go ahead and move it to a new performance system." So, since the legislature eliminated all FTE target at the state level, so now beginning July 1st, uh this month going forward, all of our funding will be based on actual performance. So, for example, right now we are, you know, we are 3.9% of of of of the funding in the system. If next year if we're only generating 3.5% of of the total FTE generated, then Highline would only get 3.5%. But if we actually go to if we actually generate a 5%, then we would would get 5% of the funding. So, it's all strictly based on performance going forward. So, that that slide that we're talking about FTE targets, that's only internal to us. We have to generate the FTEs. If if we If somebody else or, you know, like if if somebody else generating more than their funding right now, they will get the funding based on based on the number of FTEs that they educate students. So, a much more dynamic model, but also means that that we all have to be very dynamic in terms of of of of our funding structure here. Unfortunately, Highline College and I'm all of us in the system, we may not be that dynamic because 80% of our budget are tied in in with labor. So, how do you shift, you know, like if a college is is currently getting 5% of of the the funding and then next year you only get 4.5, there's no way you can adjust that quickly. Because because all of your because like the majority of of our funding budgets are tied into fixed costs of labor. >> Um as a follow-on to that, I I wonder if there's a sense of like how do how do we compare in modernization efforts to other surrounding [clears throat] institutions? So, whether like upgrades on campuses, uh buildings, aesthetics that, you know, that en- en- enhance classroom. I mean, it's technology aligned as well. How do we compare to South Seattle or or um Green River or others? >> Yeah, if I if I may be very very blunt, Highline College has prioritized labor over everything else. Uh so, salary-wise, faculty, we we are doing very well. We are right up in the top five in terms of of investing in in our our employees. If you ask our employees, they don't think that is the case, but the but comparison where as in terms of investing in infrastructure, we are probably like in the bottom 10. >> I mean, resources are limited. If we If If you invest in one, you there's may not be enough money to invest in the other. I mean, that unfortunately, that that is the case. >> At one point in time, the state had some clarity around uh capital projects. There was some funding. And I know there was some some type of cut. You know, imagine imagine that. Um but has the state has the state allocated any funding for capital projects for for Highline? Or has that totally been dismissed? >> Uh so, 10 years ago, the state annually uh uh {quote} and {unquote} allocate over half a billion dollars for state capital projects. This is over 10 years ago. And I just mentioned earlier, now we are down to like $350,000 going forward for the next 10 years. Take it into in into, you know, inflation and anything like that. The The over, you know, 500 [snorts] something million dollars 10 years ago probably like we're talking about $660 $650 million. And right now, we even have a less than half of that. So, uh uh yes, the state law system has approved a list of major capital projects where High Lines has two of them on there. But, the system the the legislature has not allocated any money to to support that list. So, we are being delayed further and further. And actually, that is That's a good transition to what we're going to be talking about next in in our executive session in terms of capital. Thank you. >> Are there other questions from anyone? Okay. Well, I I really appreciate that. I thought it was a very thorough update and and I especially appreciate that overview at the beginning just kind of on the state outlook as a whole cuz I think that's very helpful for um for anyone who's not kind of steeped in the state budget um situation and outlook. So, thank you for that, Dr. Pham. Uh we are going to bring that discussion to a close then, and our next item will be um one of two uh executive sessions. And remind me, Danielle, can we can we adjourn to executive session and then handle both of them in or do we need to pause between each? And >> Uh well, they're for two different purposes, but they're the same attendees, all of cabinet and all of the board. >> Okay. >> Um >> So, we don't need need come back into this room or >> if you enter into record right now the two reasons we're entering into executive session and the first estimated time of return, that would be fine. >> Okay. Uh so we'll be uh going into executive session here uh for two items um one to consider the selection of a site or the acquisition of real estate by lease or purchase when public acknowledge regard when with when public knowledge regarding such consideration would cause a likelihood of increased price. Excuse me, my eyes are are ter- terrible today. And then executive session two will be um focused on collective bargaining. Uh collective bargaining is exempt from the open meetings act. Okay. So I'll go ahead and adjourn uh to executive session and we'll plan on going till 10:45. And we'll be inviting our trustees to sign in to uh the other link. >> Yeah, trustees and VP Lawson, if you could please exit this room and then in your Outlook calendar invite, there's a green highlighted section with the Zoom link for the executive session. >> This is the This is the Highline College Board of Trustees meeting for July 16th, 2026. Let the minutes reflect that all trustees are present. And uh I'll move straight into the approval of the minutes. Uh so we have the approval of the minutes from the regularly scheduled meeting of May 21st, 2026. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Do I hear a second? Okay, so I I had uh Trustee Bowman moved and Trustee Johnson seconded. Uh I'll call the question. All those in favor, please indicate by saying yay. I yay I I is the word. Anyone opposed [clears throat] by Anyone opposed with nay? Okay, and no abstentions. All right, the minutes have been approved. We'll go ahead and move on now to our opportunity for public comment. Thank you for anybody who's been waiting. We apologize um the the our study session went a little bit long today, so appreciate you being here. Um is there anybody signed up for public comment? Okay. I'm going to go ahead and close public public comment then, and we'll move on to standing reports. And I think we don't we don't have a huge audience today, but is there anybody from HCEA uh online today? Okay. How about WPEA? Okay. Hopefully everybody is out enjoying some summer rain. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> Faculty Senate? No report is what I see, but just want to make sure. Okay. Um the Associated Students of Highline College, I see no report. Okay. And Highline College Foundation, Sharon, you have the spotlight. Woo! >> This is pressure. At least I don't have to follow anybody really entertaining, so that's good. Well, good morning, esteemed trustees and members of executive team. In the college's post-graduation glow, the foundation is happy to report that hard work by Tinisha Williams to continuously streamline the process of applying for scholarships has led to helping more students than ever reach their goals with less delays this year. So, that's a a exciting goal that we've been working on, and she's done great work. And on the scholarship topic, Dr. Penn joined us last week at the Veterans Resource Center where the United States Marine Corps president and his executive staff came to campus to recognize two stellar veteran students for a recognition ceremony and an official presentation of some generous scholarships. We have a great relationship growing with supporters of veterans, and we hope to grow this program and our number of veteran students in the near future. The foundation helped support the Seattle Southside Chambers Leadership Conference this past Friday where Highline College was the site host and among about 200 attendees and speakers, great messages were shared and strong connections made with others who share our common goals leading to success in students' life. And a lot of you have heard by now about the Shark in the Park. Shark in the Park event this weekend was so successful. Thank you all those who came to support it. But mostly, we want to let you know that this event was put on with partnership between the Highline College and Mast led by Russ Higley, an amazing hard work by partnerships with the city of Des Moines, who reportedly are telling us 2,600 people attended. The community surrounding the Mast is telling us they have never seen the community come together like this. Highline College had three separate booths. We were well represented. Outreach was there, continuing education, and STEM leaders like our own faculty top gun Eric Bear converse with attendees for hours in hot sun Sunday afternoon. If you weren't able to attend, it was a great sight to see and great note that the South King County fire chief also worked with the Mast to have the fireboat out on the uh sound, so that was a great thing to see. Also, public safety facilitated and monitored people parking up at the college to make shuttles down to the Mast. The Mariner Moose made an appearance just in time to unveil the new six-gill shark way. That was so much fun. And special thanks to Tony Johnson, who just joined us here. His community and marketing team and communications team gave us tons of media posts and materials before, during, and after the event. And finally, as we continue to cultivate and grow relationships within communities of our feeder school districts, we are excited to be supporting in kind the Waterland Festival this weekend. And we'll also have some presence in a degree following the block party where the city is for the first time in many, many years, if ever, blocking the whole Marine View Drive down for three blocks for the whole evening. So, if you're out and about in the neighborhood, come and support your community's college. That's the end of my report. >> Thank you very much. And uh I I had a chance to sing the praise of the Shark in the Park at a couple meetings that I was at earlier this week just to make sure that those people up in Seattle know about the good things happening down here in Des Moines. So, um it's it's exciting to see that. I didn't get a chance to be there, but I loved seeing all the pictures. Those were really fantastic. Okay, we're going to move on to our area reports. Um first of of all, academic affairs. And please introduce yourself as well. Welcome, I should have I should have asked you to introduce yourself earlier. Apologize for that. >> problem. Uh I'm Steve Washburn. I'm the Associate Dean of ELCA. And I'm representing Willie today. Um we just have one thing to share in addition to the report uh that we have a new What? >> We can't hear you. >> I'll do it like that. Right? Um we have a new Dean of Workforce Pathways, Jody Novotny, who started on July 1st. And I'll read you her bio. Um she's working in South King County after having several positions at Renton Technical College between 2007 and 2021. Jody's background includes extensive workforce leadership experience at RTC, where she served as Dean of College and Career Pathways for more than a decade and served in long-term interim positions as vice president of for instruction and Dean of Allied Health. Jodi's wrapped up an interim role at Bellevue College after spending 4 years working in education and workforce policy at the Markle Foundation and Jobs for the Future. Uh prior to Jodi's administrative experience in Washington, she taught in workforce education, adult education, Spanish, and linguistics programs within the community colleges and 4-year institutions in Colorado and Missouri. Jodi Jodi's developed partnerships with organizations that are deeply embedded in our communities and is committed to providing high-quality, culturally responsive instruction and services to students. Welcome to Jodi. I look forward to working with her. And the rest of the report stands. >> Great. Thank you very much, and we look forward to seeing Jodi sometime uh as the college uh year new year gets started. Uh administrative services, Dr. Pham, do you have any voice left? >> Yes, since I have not spoken this morning, I have a long report uh to uh provide, but uh uh actually uh given the uh the time constraint, I will leave my written uh submitted report uh as uh it is, and thank you very, very much. >> Thank you. Uh diversity, equity, and transformation, I don't know if we have anybody reporting on behalf of the team today. I know that Maribel is taking some needed time off. Great. Okay. Uh human services >> Is that me? >> That's you. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> Human resources, I'm sorry. >> That's okay. I was like, hey, we'll go with it. >> That's you. >> You're all the above. So um human resources has been really busy, of course, with all of the collective bargaining um happening right now. We are actively working with WPEA and the sessions are going really well. We're really pleased at how this new form of, um, bargaining is working for us. We did have one of our employees depart. Um, Naomi has left and we have brought in an hourly employee, um, Yomama Abdul-Hamid to help us, um, while we fill the position full-time. Um, Naomi helped with a lot of the part-time faculty hiring. So, it's really timely that, um, she has departed. Um, so we're bringing, um, we call her Dev up to speed and then that kind of makes Leslie's plate a little bit fuller for now while we backfill the position. Um, we recently provided some conflict management training to all of our people leaders and really the purpose of the training was to have, you know, teach how to have tougher conversations, whether it be colleague to colleague or colleague to employee, um, but how to address them in a productive way. Um, and it was a really good starting point. Um, we quickly identified the need to continue to have these trainings and conversations, not just for professional development, but really for the betterment of the institution. Um, we also, I'm excited to say, have two interns this summer with human resources and they are both Highline students. Um, for those that don't know, it's really hard with a degree or not to get into the human resources field and so just really pleased to provide some training to help folks who might be interested in this later or maybe just scare them when they finish, who knows. Um, but we are providing them with some really, um, good base arc, uh, basic HR knowledge and skills, um, particularly around the job description and understanding it and how we use it. So, their first project that they're working on is putting all of the current job descriptions into a uniform template that we're going to be using institution-wide, which will help, if you recall, the project that I have to try to level set our classified folks to making sure they're in the right classifications and the proper pay. So, we are already starting that process. So, really, really excited about that. Um and then if we get through that project before the internship is up, we want to start teaching them about things like contracts that we have for our faculty. So, um lots going on in human resources and just really, really pleased with the team and everything that we've been doing. As you heard in the budget call, we did get approved for one additional head count. Um and so we are building that job description as we speak. So, it'll be it'll be a good year for HR. >> That all sounds great. Um thank you, VP Lawson. So, we'll go to Information Technology Services and Tim. >> Thanks. I am going to let my report stand this week unless any or this month unless anybody has any questions. >> Any questions? And I should have paused just to see if there were any questions for other members of the exec team. So, if you've got any for anyone, let us know. Okay. I'll go on to Institutional Advancement, VP Gortsema. >> Yes, uh thanks so much. Um just want to highlight a couple things out of our report from this month and give a couple shout-outs. Um for most most of this year, we've been kind of tracking and reporting on challenges coming out of funding from the federal government. So, I think it's worth noting that we've received notice on two uh of our National Science Foundation grants that are going um through being formally funded at this point. So, I think that's great news for us to be able to share. And of course, that work happens um through partnerships with Academic Affairs with some support from from our area, but the true work is happening on the Academic Affairs side of the house. And uh Sharon mentioned the Leadership Conference that we hosted here on campus last Friday in conjunction uh the Seattle South Side Chamber of Commerce Leadership Conference. We had a lot of uh elected officials on campus and a lot of key community leaders. Want to give a shout out to Dr. Penn for joining us that day, spending the day networking and connecting with those community members, as well as really helping increase the presence and representation of the office of the president out connecting with our community partners. It's really been making a difference as we're trying to move you know represent the college and move some projects along. And um uh also uh couple mentions add on to what Sharon talked about from Shark in the Park. In addition to the three departments that she mentioned, our trio department was also there out in force and connecting with current and past students. And public safety in addition to helping make sure that we had spots here on campus to do the shuttle, did provide some great first aid and support for the event. And it was great to see Trustee Jonathan and his family in attendance and then and connecting with the community and especially that Mariner Moose that Sharon helped us get. I I Shark Shark in the Park was great. It was funny how much having the Mariner Moose in attendance added to the event and how excited people were to to have that presence down there. And then even more popular than the Mariner Moose was having Governor Bob Ferguson come to Highline College's campus on Monday to help make a major policy announcement regarding FAFSA and WASFA completion and the desire of the governor's office to make that a graduation requirement um for K-12 students coming out of K-12 in in Washington State. I'm sure that Dr. Penn might reference that again, but again that's an example of Dr. Penn's presence in the community and helping you know bring that attention to Highline College in our service district, so. We just wanted to share those highlights and answer any questions you might have from the report. Oh my gosh, I should have mentioned our our ads on Telemundo related to the FIFA World Cup have now completed. Um, I don't think that they include, right, Tony, I don't think they included the the penult penultimate championship game, but we've had our 96 combined spots between the Highline College uh specific ad and then the our city ad that uh featured uh trustee Shasheray um and it's been great to have those running throughout the community and getting some exposure. So. >> Yeah, that was such a great opportunity. Any questions? Okay, we'll then continue on to student services. Tony Garcia. >> Uh good afternoon or good morning. Uh the only thing I want to highlight on my report is just thanking everyone that participated in commencement. Um especially the staff and faculty that were there and then um all the trustees and everyone that contributed to making it a successful event. Um just now there were a few things a little few hiccups that we already um noted and there's planning efforts um already started for commencement 2027. So, um be ready. Going to be bigger and better. And the rest of the report stands. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Okay, and I that brings our area reports to a close. Are there any questions or comments from any trustees before I move on? Okay. We'll go ahead and move on to our president's remarks and pass it over to Dr. Penn. >> Yeah. I think that based on the conversation that we had today, but first of all, thank you, Dr. Pham. I mean, that took a lot of depth and breath today and I just want to give a round of applause to him because it took a lot of preparation on his part. And I think that what you see reflected with Dr. Pham is what I see every day reflected with all of the work that is happening with our vice presidents uh our deans, directors. This is the work that is happening throughout the college community. I'm very proud to be a part of and to work alongside the other members of executive cabinet. Um it is meaningful. We have We are turning a corner. And um it's good. It's good. And um our directive uh from me is that we're students in it we're focusing on students and if it isn't in the best interest of what we're doing for students, then why are we doing it? Right? And so that is beginning to permeate throughout and I'm just very, very proud of the work that we are doing. Um and specifically with the work uh that I'm um seeing and participating in with the members of executive cabinet. Um There I have I have about four things that I want to share with you that stands outside of the scope of what's in my board report. Um and uh I'm I'm typing here on the side cuz it wasn't what I wanted to talk about initially. Um Um some of it was brought up in the in the meetings that we had today. So I want to talk a little bit about FTE, you know, the clarification around that and why it matters um in what we do. We want to see so many students on campus and we all we want them here. But what's important is that we have those students that they're here, that we onboard them, that they're taking classes, that they're, you know, generating the FTE. That's the selfish part. It's the good part. It's what helps to to to uh advance our revenue um and and and help us to pay some of the bills around here and some of the other things that we need to do. Um But what you'll begin to see from me and my weekly updates is that conversation around FTE. Where are we? What is the marker, you know? And so in my report to you and I think in my weekly update to the board, I have to go back and take a look at that. Um you'll be get you'll be getting to see that I'm talking a little bit more about FTE. And you'll particularly begin to see that I'm targeting those key areas, ISP, worker retraining, uh running start, um and and what have you because those are going to be the markers to help us to understand um what we need to do and how we're going to advance through. So, I was just talking with Tim as I was heading over here. I was like, "Are Are we at the end of the summer? Can I Can I give that number because I want you to understand where we are with our annualized FTE?" And then Tim, I want you to say what you just said as we were getting ready to walk over here. So, our current FTE end of summer, and this is less uh L cap. And why why we say without the numbers related to L cap is because L cap, we have the numbers, the heads, but again taking a look at that FTE, the the the generation of FTE when we talk about L cap, it does not yield what it is that we're looking for as far as advancing what we need to do, okay? So, our um state state FTE less L cap, so this is all of our other core programs is at 3,283.4, where last year at the same time we were at 3,038.5. Um and that 3,283.4 I just looked at on our data dashboard. Tim, what did you say to me as we were walking over here? >> But that number is already higher than Michael's FTE target for next year. >> So, >> where that puts us in a good spot. I do want to clarify really quick on the less L cap. The L cap numbers count toward our FTEs. They are not tuition >> But tuition. I I apologize for that. Thank you. Thank you. For the tuition that that comes along with. Yes. Thank you very much for um that that right setting. So, I wanted to start there and know that uh for my reports out to the Board of Trustees moving forward uh to the college community, I am also shifting. It's important that we have FTE, but I also need to begin talking a lot more about data. And and using the data dashboard, making sure that I understand them as well because if I don't, then how would I expect for other people to, right? So, that is something that I'm making a commitment to as I'm uh moving forward and again you'll be able to you'll begin to see that from me. Thank you Josh and Shakira and I mean this whole crew right here who happen to be present on a drop of a dime on Friday. I got a call from Arlene Harris who said Dr. Penn could you be over at Federal Way? The governor is planning to be there and he's going to make this this huge announcement and I said hey Arlene good to hear from you. Okay. Could you say a few words Dr. Penn? Okay, show up and tell me a little bit more about this and then the next thing I know the governor's office was on the phone calling and saying okay, well at Federal Way. Then they called back and they said not Federal Way cuz they're they couldn't get the those they are on vacation. Even the administrators are like we're not present. We're in the world. Okay. And so so then they said well instead of instead of that Federal Way High School could we do it at Highline College and it was and of course we can make this happen. I hadn't checked with anybody but I was like okay Josh here. Think about this. And then they came back and said never mind we're going to do it in August. Right? Well as it turns out the governor his son they were on a hiking trip. His reception wasn't all that great but something happened and he came back I guess and said full force no we're doing it we're doing it on Monday. So then by the end of the day on Friday mind you the college is closed on Fridays. We all just happen to be around and looking at emails should have been off the grid most of us. But we made it happen in other words and so there was this turnaround and what a great opportunity for the college community to have our governor here and he came in. I from security to our marketing team to the wonderful people that are sitting here who were able to make that happen and so the governor was here on Monday. I do have if you haven't looked at the media I'll be sending that out as a link so that you can read the article but he was focused on the requiring of FAFSA or WASFA as there is an opt out but to to for to in high school seniors to make sure, you know, Washington is something like 46th or 47th in the nation um as far as FAFSA completion and submission is concerned. And my goodness, that's a can do it. That's the lift into an opportunity to get your education. But other resources that help to support that, and so it's paramount. I'm an immensely important this, which is what my statement, um what I articulated. So, I'll share that information. I also, thank you, Trustee Johnson, was able to slide in a little bit more. And I do align with concept, not concept, this this notion as well, that if we are going to give support uh getting more money into the hands of, we also need to talk about uh what they call now financial education. Um but old school me would say financial literacy, right? It's important that we help to educate our students and ourselves and our students about all of this. And so, um uh Trustee Johnson called me and said, "Dr. Penn, I know they're going to be there. Could you also say?" And I'm like, "Oh, say less. I got you. I got you." And so, I slid a statement in there as well about the whole uh making sure that we are also supportive of and that I uh I'll also advocate financial education and fiscal literacy for our uh uh committee. And I would be remissed remiss to not thank uh Trustee Shah Sheray. Shah Sheray, she was also um at the event um right there taking a picture, smiling. She wanted to say uh directly to the governor, "Thank you for appointing me to Highline College." And I was it was just a joy, and he was quite joyful. Um and uh it was wonderful to have you there and in support of the effort um uh of of advancing this this legislation. What I do know is uh it is it is proposed legislation. And what the governor and his team said is that what we would love to do is to be able to come back once the legislation is approved and and do the signing here at Highline College. And of course, we would be open to doing that as well. So, yeah, thank you so much um for being there. Did you have a comment or anything that you'd like to say? >> Yes, um I already talked with Shakira and said that I would be happy to to go and testify on behalf of that um proposed legislation. So, yeah. And it was great. Um I think as far as exposure and just something that I truly believe in as being a first-gen uh in my family and again, I think that's kind of like a barrier, it's just not knowing about the FAFSA and filling it out and that access to resources and just um you know, Washington state last year was 47th, now they've kind of inched up a little bit to 40th of the nation as far as FAFSA completion, but it's still like at a paltry 51% and just, you know, as far as access not just for education, but work training programs, um but also just that Washington state has other funds available um that our students or potential students may not know about. So, it's when we're talking about FTE, I mean, this is kind of it, you know, too as far as potential recruitment and enrollment um is getting that kind of gateway through FAFSA and WASFA. So, thank you. >> Thank you. That's great. Thank you so much. Um and then the one of the last two things I want to share is I will um continue to attend WAC. We have a meeting um next week. The chancellors and presidents will come together next week and I'll head out. Julie's sending me in the right direction this time over to Vancouver south, going south to Vancouver. I'm not going north, y'all. I'm going across the border. Um and so uh I but I want to share with you in light of all the information that Dr. Pham shared today, um Dr. Mosby in the times that I would attend WAC on his behalf um was a part of the education committee. And that committee uh focuses on student success in the delivery of instructional and academic support services. Right, that's what that committee that's that committee and then that rises up to the greater committee and we educate and talk about accordingly. Um, we have an opportunity to select, prioritize one, two, and three. What committee would you like to serve on? And I have shifted to the operating budget meeting. My my second one operating and I think the next one was the um Oh my goodness, capital. Um, and then there was a third choice. But I I think it's important that the person sitting in the seat be more fully engaged in having conversations around Dr. Dr. Pham gave me a thumbs up. I think that what he'll probably do in the fall and moving on is is hand me the mic to talk about some of the stuff that he talked about today. I was like, absolutely not. Um, but yeah, so I've made that shift and that will be um um information that I will be able to share and talk with him more closely about in the rest of the college community. So, just wanted to share that with you. And I would say lastly, uh, you know, we are this will be our last meeting with the Board of Trustees until um September. Um, and you know, wow, thank you is what I say to you. There has been so much going on and we have ebbed and flowed. We've had some really great highs. We've talked about some of those today. Um, we're a board bar. We're not deep deep bread. We have some great things happening with programming. We have the largest graduating class ever at Highland College. We are doing some phenomenal work. Uh, congratulations to us. And then we've also had some lows, you know, the passing of Dr. Mosby and there are a host of other things that, you know, touch my mind, my heart, my spirit and make it heavy. But holistically, what I will say is that through all of this, you all have been here to support us. So, Um, have a new trustee um and some of you who are our veterans and um, I I just want you to know that, um, how you show up and the feedback that you give and how you're engaging is quite meaningful. If no one else has said it to you, I will say it to you. Thank you immensely on behalf of the college community. And so that is all that I would like to share for today. I will round out my report. Um, have a great rest of your summer. Come back ready. Dr. Pham will be ready for you. Okay, he ready. There you go. Um, and thank you very much. >> Thank you, Dr. Penn, and thanks for, uh, that that great information on all of those fronts. And I just wanted to thank, um, Trustee Johnson and and, you know, on the issue of financial education, it is a huge issue and and it's a huge gap and, um, there's been a bill over the last couple sessions that has has died and not made it through on requiring, um, high schoolers to have financial education as part of their um, high school education and it's amazing that we have not figured this out yet. I we're in the minority now in states that don't have that built into their curriculum and I think that quite frankly, if we did, we would see very uh, we already we would already see the numbers moving in a very different way when it comes to the FAFSA, um, uh, utilization and and just education all around. So really important issues connected, intertwined in in all regards. So thank you for the call out on that. Really important. >> [clears throat] >> Um, is there any other unscheduled business? Okay. Well, with that then we will go ahead and bring our meeting to a close. The meeting is adjourned.