Board okays changes
for summer calendar
by Rawly Bransom
editor-in-chief

   Changes to the master calendar and a tax freeze were approved by the TCC Board of Trustees during its monthly meeting last week.
   The board approved moving all summer semester dates back. Each change would be one to three days after the original date approved by the board.
   Erma Johnson Hadley told the Board of Trustees the changes might cause a few problems, but since they were only a few days, the problems would be minimal.
   However, many faculty members as well as students were not aware of the dates involved.
   The dates they were using were those available on the Web site and printed in the school catalog. Reportedly, those dates had been printed and distributed to TCC faculty and students prior to board approval.
   According to Dr. Bill Lace, executive assistant to the chancellor, the dates were changed without the board approval and never should have been published.
   With the newly approved dates, Summer I will start June 1 instead of the printed May 25 starting date. It will end July 7 with faculty submitting their grades the following day. With the originally printed schedule, students would have taken final exams on June 30 with grades due July 1.
   Changing plans for summer
   This change creates problems for some students, faculty and staff who made plans in good faith that the dates they were given were accurate.
   “One reason to move the dates back to the original dates was that many high schools have not held their graduations yet,” Lace explained. “Since we get a large percentage of our summer students from high schools, we felt it was what was best for the school.”
   It is not best for Dr. Lillian Hansen, professor of natural science at NE Campus, however.
   Hansen’s daughter will be swimming in the Olympic Trials on July 4 in Long Beach, Calif.
   “We purchased our tickets in early February, and we made hotel reservations in early January,” she said. “Our hotel required a three-night minimum nonrefundable payment when we made our reservations.”
   Hansen believed Summer I would end in June, so she she would be able to take the trip with her family. Originally, she had planned to leave later than the rest of her family, but after seeing the published dates for summer school, she made reservations for her flight.
   “You can understand my initial excitement when I saw our calendar. My oldest daughter was even planning on enrolling for her third summer semester at TCC. That won’t happen now,” Hansen said.
   Hansen says she has only three options: she can finish her class early, have a substitute take the last three classes and submit her grades or not teach at all.
Changing her reservations now would cost her moe than $300, but not teaching would cost her more than $3,000.
   “Fortunately, I have the support of my department and colleagues, so I will initiate a plan that will work best for my students once the session is underway,” she said.
   Hansen says this problem will not keep her from teaching summer school again, but she does believe the district might need to reexamine its methods for developing a calendar.
   “I strongly feel that the educators need to be involved in solidifying calendar dates. I have yet to have a spring break that coincides with my own children’s break,” she said.
   Authorizing a tax freeze
   In other business, the board voted to approve a tax freeze for those citizens who fall within the Texas Constitutional Amendment 13.
   The amendment states that a tax freeze can be issued by a governmental body for those over 65, disabled or widows of those over 65 who are over 55.
   The tax freeze was approved with four votes for and two abstains following a recommendation for it by Chancellor Leonardo de la Garza referring to the lack of “parody and equity” in the tax freeze.
   According to de la Garza as well as Rudy Gonzales, vice chancellor for financial services, the freeze will save the average household only $5.
   “The savings on the tax freeze will not be great. The average household will get about a $5 savings. Those who have larger houses will save more, and those with small houses will save less,” Gonzales said.
   Gonzales did add that if the freeze is also approved by the cities, the amounts, although seemingly small, will begin to add up.
   The tax freeze will affect only the current market value of a homestead. If the owner changes property, the tax freeze will go with them up to the value of the last home. Also, any additions to a home that increase its value will not be covered by the tax freeze.
   So if a person buys a home or adds a pool, he is covered only for the value of the old home at the time of the tax freeze.
   The tax freeze will cost the school millions of dollars over the next 10 years as well. Gonzales said.
   “We took the assumption that the tax rate will not change and that the values of the property will increase at about 5 percent. We also assumed that the amount of people eligible for the freeze will grow yearly by 5 percent, and we figured out that the school district will lose about $18.1 million,” he said.
   In other business, the board voted unanimously to give de la Garza the ability to sign a contract for electric service for all campuses. TCC’s current contract for electricity with TXU was signed in 2002.
   All the proposals have been submitted, and according to the administration, TCC will face a minimum of 25 percent increase in the next contract period.