Roughly a tenth of Lakeland Community College (LCC) employees will be removed to avoid financial challenges for the school, Scene reported.
Lakeland Community College board members voted recently for the unexpected 66-employee cut – part-and full-time workers, janitors, career services specialists, IT techs, groundskeepers, and others – which will take effect Jan. 3, 2024. And some of those who will be cut will not receive benefit packages.
To "balance the 2024 budget without using reserves," 66 people would be let go, 25 without benefit packages, according to an email after an executive board meeting that was not publicly announced.
In the last four years, LCC cut 57% of its part-time staff and 34% of its full-time staff and cut staff salary spending by 21%, $9.1 million in 2019 to $7.2 million in 2023. And more cuts will be announced in 2024.
The school has seemingly been experiencing some difficulties on campus, with overflowing rubbish bins, reprimands for spending over supply budgets, and faulty HVAC in some classrooms. “These are difficult decisions, but they are necessary to balance the budget as Lakeland, along with colleges across the nation, deals with the reality of lower enrollment,” said LCC Board Chair Jerrie Lee Rispoli.
However, according to English professor Tobin Terry, president of the Lakeland Faculty Association, enrollment at the school seems steady. LCC’s student population decreased "just 1%" in full-time students and 0.7% in part-time students in the past year.
