Third District Representative Chevalier approves budget but urges Administration and Board to address perceived vast inequities in community college development between the East and West sides of County
Third District Representative Paul Chevalier
Third District Representative Paul Chevalier voted to approve the Community College’s $92.9 million budget, which included a 3% across the board increase for faculty and staff. However, in prepared remarks delivered at the Governing Board May budget meeting, he urged the Board and the Community College Administration to address the vast inequities in Community College development between the East and West sides of the County.
Mr. Chevalier listed the following as some of his concerns as he urged the Administration to create an aggressive Community College development plan for the East side of the County (Sedona and the Verde Valley) with a population of more than 75,000 residents:
- Only 13% of students taught by the Community College were taught on the East side even though the East side accounts for one-third of the County population.
- Three times as many courses are offered on the West side as on the East side. Music and Performing Arts classes are large and expanding on the West side. Few, or almost none, can be found on the East side of the County.
- In May 2021, Yavapai Community College awarded 1,550 degrees or certificates on the West side but only 361 on the East side.
- Serious community college development on the East side of the County will help reduce the current distrust of how resources are allocated as between residents of the East and West sides of the County.
- Yavapai Community College has 17% of its assets tied up in arts and cultural facilities with almost all of it located on the West side of the County. It spends about 12% of its budget on community arts and culture, an estimated $10 million, with almost all of it spent on the West side.
- Between 2011 and 2018 Yavapai Community College cut in half the number of classes and teachers on the East side and eliminated almost the entire East side administrative staff as the West side took control of running the East side remotely.
- On West side of the County, the Community College in 2019/2020 held 39 public performing arts events and 28 public film events. On the East side it held three performing arts events.
- West side has 1,100 seat auditorium; East side has none.
- The West side of the County will have seven athletic teams, gymnasium, and athletic fields. East side has none. East side taxes help pay for all of the West side’s athletic endeavors.
- The Community College provides West side retirees with a seven-court tennis complex, an Olympic sized pool and sauna, plus a state-of-the-art Child Care Center. Nothing similar provided on East side to any of its residents.
- And much more as outlined in his speech.
Mr. Chevalier’s prepared remarks follow. A video of his presentation to the Governing Board follows the remarks. You may view the entire video of the May Governing Board meeting at the District Governing Board web site.
MAY BUDGET
I am going to comment about the inequities between the east side and the west side of the mountain that this budget is funding.
The total number of students taught in classes on the West side in the last pre-pandemic year 2019/2020 were 1,517 versus 229 taught in classes on the east side. That is a ratio of 6.6 to 1. In 2019/2020 only 13% of the students taught in classes were taught on the east side even though the population of the East side is between 30 and 33% of the total county. This month, May 2021, the college awarded a total of 1,550 degrees or certificates on the west side and 361 on the East side. That is a ratio of 4.3 to 1. And yet the total population of the West side is only 2 to 1 that of the East side. The West side CTEC by itself had more students taught in classes than on the entire East side.
One important reason for this is that over three times as many different courses are offered on the west side as on the East side. As a result, East siders’ have far fewer course choices. Less choice equals fewer students taking classes.
Before the second decade of the 21st century the student population on the East side reached 26% of the total college population. After that it plummeted significantly to just 13% now.
Between 2011 and 2018 the college cut in half the number of classes and teachers on the east side and eliminated almost the entire east side staff and the West side took control of running the east side remotely. These cuts and staff eliminations made available for west side use millions of dollars of tax money paid by East side taxpayers’.
As a result of these actions relationships between the West side college administration and East siders’ soured. The rift has never mended.
So far I have talked about inequity in education between the two sides of the mountain, but it is not just inequity in education offerings that exists. Our third Board End is about providing our communities benefits in arts and culture. Our college has 17% of its assets tied up in arts and cultural facilities with almost all of it located on the west side. Our college annually spends 12% of its budget on community arts and culture. That’s about $10 million and almost all of it is spent on the west side.
The argument that East siders can simply travel to the West side to attend community art and cultural events or classes defies reality. Travel time, travel cost and travel distance makes this impractical.
Our third End has several classifications. It includes arts and cultural classes. Both sides of the mountain offer visual arts classes but only the west side residents are offered music and the ever expanding performing arts classes – in spite of the fact that there are likely as many or more musicians and performing artists living on the East side as on the west side.
Another classification under our third End is community entertainment. On the west side our college has a state of the art 1100 seat performing arts center, complete with dinner service to patrons at some events. On the East side the college has no performing arts center, and none is in the planning.
On the west side the college in 2019/2020 held for the public 39 performing arts events and 28 public film events. On the east side it held 3 performing arts events.
Athletics also falls in the classification of community arts and culture. The college has stated publicly that athletics enrich the community. I concur. But our college had placed all its athletic teams in the west side. Currently the college has four teams. It plans to add another team this fall plus two more in the near future. All these teams, seven in number, are planned to be located on the west side. No teams exist or are planned to be on the east side.
The current athletic teams are almost all filled with athletes coming from outside the county — 63 out of 68 of them. These could just as easily be located on the east side if there was a dormitory to house them. The west side has two dormitory building, and the east side has none and none is planned.
On the subject of community enrichment, the college has a Family Enrichment Center. This is a great benefit to a community, and I support it. The Family Enrichment Center is located on the West side and none is planned for the East side. It enriches the West side communities only.
In addition, there are specific college athletic facilities for the use of community residents, and they are all located on the west side.
In Prescott, the college has an Olympic size swimming pool and spa that cost taxpayers one million three hundred thousand dollars to build. The college has no swim team. These facilities are used mainly for West side residents to swim laps and/or relax in the warm water of the spa. The East side has no pool or spa and none is planned.
There are college tennis courts – seven in number – and all are located on the West side. The college took 100% ownership of these in 2014. It had owned 25% prior to that. The college rebuilt and added to them in 2014, over protests of both East side and West side residents, and at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The college has no tennis team. These courts are mainly there for the use of West side resident tennis players. On the East side there are no college tennis courts and none are planned.
That brings me to the budget before us. This budget continues to support these east/west inequities.
In 2019 I voted for the annual budget even though it supported inequities. I did this because we had a new President who had only been on board for four months. In 2020 I again voted for an inequitable budget. This time because the college had its hands full addressing how to successfully manage our educational responsibilities in the midst of an epidemic.
I will vote one more time today to approve the annual budget because the pandemic challenges this current year had to be the main focus of the college administration. But, unless a comprehensive college plan is implemented before the next budget vote, that is designed to treat people who live on both sides of the mountain equitably, I shall not vote for a future budget that is inequitable between the two sides of the mountain. I acknowledge that such a plan will take a period of years to fully implement.
I want to be very clear that the current situation is no fault of our college President. Dr. Rhine inherited these inequities and then had to focus on successfully addressing educating during a pandemic. That has been done well.
I believe, as do many East siders’ that it is now the right time for the college, with Board support, to focus on righting these inequities. Doing so would not only benefit East side residents but it will add a significant number of students to the college as a whole and by so doing enrich many lives and individual and family incomes.
Over time this will end the rift with many East siders and the college administration. As trust builds, it will add charitable college donations from East siders’ who can afford it. . What we would be doing in fact is creating what we now have in name only – a whole county community college.
Paul Chevalier
May 18, 2021