Letter to WSU employees from President John Bardo about potential furloughs
Dear fellow employees,
Like many of you, I am closely monitoring legislative budget discussions because of the possibility there could be mandated furloughs of state employees.
I remain cautiously optimistic the Kansas Legislature will resolve the issue in a timely manner.
There are two ways this could be resolved: The Legislature could reach agreement by midnight Saturday, or pass a bill authorizing expenditures for payroll. In either situation, there would be no furloughs.
But this is happening on such a tight deadline that all state agencies, including universities, have been instructed to plan for the possibility of furloughs.
We expect to notify employees by noon Friday, June 5, if they are being furloughed or asked to remain on the job.
If furloughs are required, we'll maintain enough faculty and staff to enable us to continue summer courses and keep essential operations going.
On a call this morning that included all Kansas Regents universities, we were given the following criteria for determining which employees are asked to work next week if the budget is unresolved. This isn't an all-inclusive list, but includes:
- Faculty teaching summer classes and those required to support those classes
- Researchers fulfilling externally funded contracts and grants
- Public safety officers
- Minimum required technology and communications staff
- Minimum required custodial and power plant staff
- Financial employees involved in year-end closing
- Those involved in fall semester orientation and enrollment
Because we are being guided in all of these matters by state policy, the single best source of information is the state Department of Administration website. You can find answers here to frequently asked questions, http://www.wichita.edu/j/?3820
Please send any WSU-specific questions to Frankie Kirkendoll, director of Human Resources, frankie.kirkendoll@wichita.edu.
We will continue to communicate with staff and faculty as more information becomes available. Thank you for all you do to make this a strong university.
Sincerely,
John Bardo
President