LYNDONVILLE- Five staff members of Lyndon State College have just learned that they are being laid off in result of the current budget deficit the college is facing. The $3.1 million budget deficit amounts to 10% of the college's yearly operating budget.
In a Student Government Association meeting last night, Joe Bertolino, President of Lyndon State College, announced the staff cuts, as well as explaining the college's issue and the plans the college has to correct it.
According to President Joe Bertolino, the deficit was caused by the decline in student enrollment in the 2014-2015 academic year; by cutting these positions, it will save the college more than $300,000.
Full time faculty was not laid off, but the positions the college is losing are the Assistant Director of Athletics/Sports Information Director, Grants Officer, Director of First-year Experience, Associate Registrar and the Senior Desktop Support Technician.
These five members will continue to receive their benefits and full salary until June 30, which is the end of the college's fiscal year.
In part with the administrative cuts, President Joe Bertolino also mentioned that fewer courses would be offered starting next semester, getting rid of almost 15 current courses, as well as restructuring the amount of students in each class and getting rid of course overloads to full time faculty.
Despite the current issue, President Joe Bertolino believes that the budget will be balanced by the next school year, "I believe that these decisions are coming from a place of strength, not a place of weakness... That we are facing our budget challenges head on, that we're being pro-active, that we're dealing with the issues now, instead of alter, so that others will have to deal with them later."
Though President Joe Bertolino feels as though the college is dealing with the issue now, some students say the college could have faced it sooner. "Why did it take so long to react? Not that long ago, we were talking about plans to build a turf field and all these other plans, because we were all right and this just seems like a complete shock," says student Jillian Emery, "I just want to know why it took so long to react and why didn't we know about it sooner?"
President Joe Bertolino said there are no plans to lay off any additional faculty or staff.