Keeping tabs on GCCD: What's left on the road to independence?

Keeping tabs on GCCD: What's left on the road to independence?
 
By Jake Goodrick
Gillette News Record
Via Wyoming News Exchange
 
GILLETTE —Nearly one semester has passed since Campbell County residents voted to create an independent community college district centered around Gillette College.
The decision to form the Gillette Community College District has been made. But there are many details that go into getting the first new Wyoming community college district in more than 50 years up and running.
The citizens of Campbell County granted Gillette College independence, but the district still needs time to achieve it.

 
“Everybody wants to know, ‘When are you going to be fully accredited and when are athletics coming back?’ It just depends,” said GCCD interim President Janell Oberlander. “It depends on so many factors. But as quickly and efficiently as we can. That’s the goal.”
Trustees for the new district and the Northern Wyoming Community College District have both approved a memorandum of understanding, which is legalese for “agreement,” that outlines the terms of their relationship going forward.
Gillette College will continue to be accredited through NWCCD while the new district works toward receiving its own accreditation, which could be a three- to five-year process.
The agreement was approved, but not all of the terms are set. Trustees and representatives from each district will continue to work on individual exhibits to add to the agreement. Each exhibit will clarify the details of agreed upon terms of their relationship.
So far, the first and only exhibit approved grants the money NWCCD has earmarked for Gillette College to the new district. It also transfers the debt owed on Inspiration Hall to GCCD as well.
Oberlander said that the next exhibit will focus on transferring Gillette College employees to the new district. Gillette College workers are still employed by NWCCD and Oberlander is the sole employee of the new district.
Both districts are working to figure out when the employees will transfer and ensure that their benefits and “all of the pieces that go along with bringing on employees” transition smoothly, she said.
Both sides will have to agree on how to go about transferring the Gillette College buildings and property to the new district in a separate exhibit.
Other details or difficulties that emerge will be ironed out between both sides and added as exhibits as needed.
Trustees and representatives from both districts met in Buffalo in October to work out differences and agree to a shared values statement. That statement laid the groundwork for the ongoing discussions. Since then, trustees and Oberlander have said there has been a good working relationship between the two districts.
“We want to make sure that we do that right,” Oberlander said. “We don’t want anyone to be harmed in this process. Those are the pieces we’re working on. We’re at the detail level.”
The first exhibit agreed upon granted $879,567 to GCCD.
When broken down, the money comes from:

$271,812 in Optional 1% Sales Tax funding from the city of Gillette and Campbell County

$335,535 from the Campbell County Board of Cooperative Higher Education Services, or BOCHES

About $65,070 in bookstore fund balance

$207,143 in matching funds from the state intended for Gillette College

But that money is not in the new district’s bank account yet. Oberlander and NWCCD President Walt Tribley are scheduled to meet with the county commissioners and city council Tuesday to discuss how the money from those entities should be transferred to the new district.
Oberlander said that the $879,000 amount will cover the district’s operational budget through this fiscal year and into the early months of fiscal year 2022-23, which begins July 1.
A budget for the new district could be approved during a budget hearing within the next district board meeting on Dec. 15.
Assuming a budget is approved this December, the district could begin making new hires in early 2022. Oberlander said the first few positions she will seek are a chief financial officer, a vice president and an executive assistant.
During the campaign leading up to the special election that decided the fate of Gillette College, the budget for the new district was estimated at about $15 million per year. Oberlander said the district budget projection is still in the $15 million to $17 million annual range.
She also said that Gillette College will not be requesting funding from the city and county through its Optional 1% Sales Tax, which it typically received while part of NWCCD.
“Our intent is not to make that request into the next fiscal year,” she said.
Another selling point from the campaign to vote in favor of the new district was that the district would not rely on state funding. The other seven community college districts assess 4 mills with an option to tack on a fifth mill.
Given Campbell County’s outsized assessed valuation, trustees have said that the mill will likely be set at less than 4 mills, which would disqualify the district from state appropriations.
Oberlander said the district still does not have a clear idea of how many mills it will assess. However, the number likely will be determined by this spring in order for it to be accounted for in the upcoming fiscal year 2022-23 budget.
“We also need to start working on reserves,” Oberlander said. “That’s part of accreditation, you have to have a certain amount of reserves as you move forward.”
It turns out, even seeking institutional accreditation isn’t so easy, let alone attaining it.
Before Gillette College can truly begin the accreditation process, it must meet a long list of qualifications as determined by the Higher Learning Commission.
That said, Oberlander said the three- to five-year timeline to achieve accreditation is still on track for the district. The eligibility requirements could be completed by July, which would pave the way for the district to submit the accreditation application.
The new district and NWCCD will remain bound by their agreement, and Sheridan’s accreditation, until GCCD completes its required institutional accreditation and each district can stand on its own.
Nursing is the only Gillette College program that has program-specific accreditation.
“As we move forward with our institutional accreditation, they will move forward at the same time with the nursing accreditation,” Oberlander said. “It should almost be a parallel process. Once we’re fully accredited, nursing will shortly thereafter become fully accredited.”
The nursing program will not transfer until the program at Gillette College is fully accredited, for the students to have continuity in an accredited program.
“I don’t foresee any concerns there,” Oberlander said.
Then, of course, there’s sports.
“We’ll get sports and the Energy City Voices Back again as quickly as we can,” Oberlander said.
The cancellation of the athletic programs at Gillette and Sheridan colleges played a large part in the movement in Campbell County toward leaving NWCCD to form an independent district.
Besides determining how much it would cost and where the money will come from, the district also would have to hire coaches who would have to go through recruiting and scheduling cycles.
It could take a couple of years to get the pieces in place to bring back sports.
Also, Oberlander said it is unclear if a Gillette College team could be eligible for membership in Region IX of the National Junior College Athletic Association without the district having its own accreditation.
Some trustees have expressed interest in returning athletics and other extracurriculars to Gillette College, but they have their hands full putting the pieces in place to someday make that possible.
A few months into the existence of the Gillette Community College District, questions have been answered but many of the ones people held onto before the election still linger.
In time, as the minor details begin accumulating into significant change, some of those answers may become more clear.