FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leah Carpenter, President
Phone: 218.335.4290

Leech Lake Tribal Council Cuts Funding to Tribal College by 70%

CASS LAKE, MN - In October, nearly three months into its fiscal year, Leech Lake Tribal College received notification that the Leech Lake Tribal Council had reduced its funding to the college by $500,000. This came as a complete surprise to college administrators, since current Leech Lake Tribal Chairman Archie LaRose had endorsed the college’s original budget appropriation just months earlier while serving as the Band’s Secretary/Treasurer. In response to the Tribal Council’s unexpected funding cut, LLTC Vice President of Operations and Leech Lake Band member Sharon Kotla said, “Being ambushed by a half-million dollar cut by our own tribal government, a quarter of the way into the fiscal year, makes dealing with it incredibly difficult.”

The Tribal College has a General Fund budget for the current year of $2.6 million. Nearly 30% of that was to come from the Band’s funding. General fund revenues pay for the college’s day-to-day operations with 48% of these funds covering salaries and benefits for staff and faculty members. General fund dollars are also used to leverage funds in many grant proposals, which has enabled the college to procure nearly $4,000,000 in grant funds annually. Grant funds represent the bulk of the total college budget, but are restricted for use in specific programs and can not be used for operating funds or to pay most salaries. The only option available to cover the unexpected $500,000 cut by the Leech Lake Tribal Council is to drastically reduce personnel costs.

As a result, work hours and pay for up to 25 full-time employees will be reduced from 40 hours to 32 hours per week. Employees impacted by the pay cuts include the college president Dr. Leah J. Carpenter, administrative assistants and other support service personnel. “Having hours reduced will severely impact affected staff during these very tough economic times, and especially with the coming of the holiday season,” said President Carpenter.

Tribal College leadership is making every effort possible to spare students from being impacted by this budget crisis by cutting as much as possible from administrative staff while leaving faculty as intact as possible. Dr. Carpenter stated, “The college leadership team is working to ensure that the services to our students are preserved, and that students continue to have access to educational resources including the library, learning center, and tutoring services.”

However, the impact of an unexpected funding cut of this magnitude will not only affect the current status of the college, but also its future as the reduced capacity will likely mean that construction and other projects planned for the next year will have to be postponed indefinitely.