Lane Community College leaders estimated in a meeting Wednesday that they’ll need to eliminate 20.5 positions and cut two academic programs to balance next year’s budget.

The college’s health information management associate degree and its criminal justice associate degree are both on the chopping block.

Jenna McCulley, the college’s senior adviser for strategic communications, said the college is developing a “teach out” plan to allow current students to finish their degrees. Those programs, if the board ultimately signs off on the cuts, will not accept new students.

The college could also cut some library and tutoring jobs, and make reductions in other services such as its in-house print shop. LCC could also close its off-campus community dental clinic to focus resources on its campus dental teaching program.

The college anticipates it will need to cut an estimated $4.2 million total to balance its budget.

McCulley said the college received school board authorization to lay the groundwork for cuts weeks ago, ahead of the formal budget process in April.

“Our goal really is to preserve our educational focus,” McCulley said, “keep our colleagues and staff, faculty whole throughout this process to the best of our ability and ultimately create financial stability for our college so we can continue to serve students in the long term.”

Lane Community College Education Association President Adrienne Mitchell said she felt LCC workers and students should have been able to participate earlier.

“There have been new and creative ideas that have come, sometimes from the community, sometimes from staff and faculty working in the program,” Mitchell said, “that have helped reshape a program in order to be able to maintain it.”

She said she also worries the planned reductions could have unintended ripple effects.

She said LCC’s course-specific tutoring support has helped students be more successful in their classes. Cutting entire programs, such as the criminal justice degree, could also end up losing the college prospective students and revenue.

Board member concerns

The LCC Board of Education has already authorized LCC’s administration to look for ways to close the budget gap, but has not yet started the formal budget process. A final vote is expected in June.

During Wednesday’s board meeting some elected trustees, including Zach Mulholland, said they would prefer to hold a public process before cutting academic programs to ensure everyone impacted has an opportunity to weigh in.

He argued that holding a vote on a program cut is required under board policy, and trustees should proactively weigh in on big changes.

“I’m asking for a vote so we can do our due diligence and vote on this in a well-informed and public way,” Mulholland said.

Other board members disagreed, including Trustees Steve Mital and Julie Weismann. They argued the board had already provided guidance and oversight allowing LCC President Stephanie Bulger to find budget reductions.

“You’ve limited the impact to the student facing programs, you’ve maximized the impact elsewhere in alignment with our values, that’s the reassurance I’m looking for,” Mital said.

Mital also said if the board holds a longer public process on whether to eliminate the two programs on the chopping block, they’ll still have to find somewhere else to cut impacting another group of students or faculty.

The cuts were presented during a work session, which don’t typically include public comment. The public will be able to weigh in during the LCC Board of Education’s next public meeting March 31.

Lane Community College holds the license for KLCC but has no part in KLCC’s editorial process and does not review news content before publication. This story was edited by an outside editor from the Northwest News Network.

Rebecca Hansen-White is a reporter with KLCC. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/03/20/lane-community-college-budget-cuts/