According to GNTC president, Craig McDaniel, the college was recently asked by the Technical College System of Georgia, of which GNTC is a member, to reduce their annual budget by 6 percent.
“That would be taken immediately,” said McDaniel.
McDaniel said that 1 percent of the 6 percent decrease would come from employee furlough days. Those days are planned for Sept. 25, Nov. 25 and Dec. 31.
“Students will not be affected during these dates. All campuses will be closed. This plan has been approved by our commissioner and announced to the staff and faculty,” said McDaniel.
The GNTC administration must also, according to McDaniel, develop plans for an additional budget cut of up to 8 percent. The eight percent cut must be submitted to the Technical College System office Aug. 21.
“An 8 percent cut will require at least three additional furlough days,” McDaniel said.
Those furlough days would be taken sometime in January 2010.
Dalton State College announced last week, that they would be closing their Center for Continued Education.
“Given the state of the economy, we will have to stop providing this service to the larger commu-nity,” said Dalton State College president John Schwenn. “Unfortunately, the Center has operated at a loss for many years, and because of unprecedented budgetary constraints, we are unable to con-tinue to absorb those costs.”
McDaniel assures students and faculty, as well as the public, this will not be the case for GNTC.
“We are not cutting back on continuing education. We have addressed budget reductions for the past year by taking three furlough days early in 2009 and by not filling positions that came open during the past fiscal year,” said McDaniel.
In June, Coosa Valley Technical College, in Rome and Northwestern Technical College, in Rock Springs merged to create one campus. The two colleges lost a combined $1.4 million in operating funds during the 2008-2009 fiscal year, according to McDaniel. The loss represents a 9.5 percent reduction in funds.
GNTC was also asked to reduce $500,000 from the newly merged college budget for savings asso-ciated with the merger.
“We are seeing record enrollment increases and will do everything in our power to maintain the level and quality of service that our students have come to expect,” said McDaniel.
McDaniel said that GNTC is trying to reduce operating costs without affecting the quality of edu-cation.
“Our staff and faculty on the Walker, Gordon, Floyd and Polk campuses have been great stewards of state resources throughout the budget crisis and merger. Their attitude and professionalism should make every citizen of northwest Georgia proud of their technical college,” said McDaniel.
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