City College of San Francisco - California Competes

INTRODUCTION | ABSTRACT
Standard III.D: Financial Resources
The College makes significant ongoing efforts to
ensure that spending is tied to the institution’s
core mission. The institution’s financial team,
led by the Vice Chancellor for Finance and
Administration and the Chief Financial Officer,
provides realistic revenue estimates to the
Chancellor to set the parameters for creating the
annual operating budget. Through the Shared
Governance budget planning process, strategic
decisions are made each year to ensure that sufficient
budgetary focus is placed on areas that
directly and indirectly support student learning.
Great care is taken to make sure there is wide
dissemination of information related to that
process. Cost center managers’ recommendations
for resource allocation are tied directly to both
the Strategic and Annual Plans, and decisions on
these recommendations are made in a Shared
Governance setting in consultation with the
members of the College’s Planning and
Budgeting Council. The results of this process are
then forwarded to the Board of Trustees for consideration
and approval.
The College has sufficient cash flow and reserves
to maintain stability. The institution practices
effective oversight of all of its finances and contracts.
The College recognizes that a
re-engineering review of all major business
processes is needed to ensure that both internal
and external customer service are given the
attention they deserve. The institution considers
its long-range financial priorities in making
annual financial plans. However, to ensure its
long-term fiscal stability, the College needs to
develop and implement a comprehensive plan to
match ongoing spending with ongoing revenue.
In addition, the institution needs to address the
cost of retiree health benefits, which represent a
significant financial challenge for the future.
Standard IV: Leadership & Governance
City College of San Francisco has a robust Shared
Governance System with broad-based participation
that promotes collaborative efforts among
the Board of Trustees and College constituencies.
The Shared Governance System has reached a
level of maturity and support from campus constituencies
that reflects the transformation of the
ideals under which the system was created into a
working practical reality. The Shared Governance
System has been evaluated several times and the
most recent evaluation (October, 2004) indicated
that constituencies have learned to feel confident
in the strength of the system as the
College’s methodology for dealing with new
challenges as they occur. That evaluation also
resulted in several recommendations for improving
the system, including expanding
participation in the Shared Governance System
and continuing the biennial evaluation process.
The Board of Trustees maintains an appropriate
level of independence and fulfills its obligation
to represent the public interest. The Board has
promoted and played an active role in the
development of planning initiatives and the
assessment of institutional effectiveness. The
Board Policy Manual, Board By-Laws, and Board
procedures are in compliance with local and
state laws and regulations. However, the Board
needs to adopt a calendar for the regular systematic
review and updating of its policies. In
addition, there are a few areas identified in this
report that should be addressed in the Policy
Manual. The Board has a strong code of ethics,
is involved in the accreditation process, and
provides leadership in the selection and evaluation
of the chief administrative officer (the
Chancellor).
The Board delegates authority and responsibility
for the administration of the institution to the
Chancellor. The Chancellor works effectively
with administrative, faculty, staff, and student
organizational structures—the means of communication
with constituencies—in supporting
the institution and delegates responsibility to
appropriate administrative divisions. These
administrative and governance processes facilitate
decisions that support student learning and
improve institutional effectiveness.
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