28 layoffs at Kirkwood will save $1.5M annually

Cuts that Kirkwood Community College announced Monday resulted in 28 layoffs, some occurring across programs the campus is eliminating or changing because of low enrollment.

Both full-time and part-time employees were laid off in two programs the college is closing: Dental Technology and the Energy Production and Distribution program.

Kirkwood announced plans Monday to close those for-credit programs following an internal review of its operations, which officials said wasn’t documented in a report. “Different heads of each division of the college took a look at their operations in terms of enrollment, cost and future expectations,” Kirkwood spokesman Justin Hoehn said.

Kirkwood reported 19 students currently enrolled in its Dental Technology program, aimed at teaching “the art and science of designing and fabricating custom-made corrective devices and replacements for natural teeth” over two years.

Kirkwood has 18 students in its Energy Production and Distribution Technology program, which teaches energy-industry fundamentals — with special attention on utility-scale turbine repair and maintenance. Students in that program regularly climb and maintain a 2.5-megawatt wind turbine on campus.

Those programs will end once the enrolled students complete their studies, with some on pace to graduate in May and others looking to finish in 2024 or 2025, Hoehn said.

In addition to the program closures, Kirkwood announced plans to eliminate the behind-the-wheel portion of its commercial driver’s license class A program due to declining enrollment over the last five years and the “significant and ongoing cost of maintaining up-to-date technology and equipment.”

Kirkwood’s broader transportation program offers a variety of theory and hands-on training for tractor trailers, school buses, dump trucks and other larger vehicles.

For the current budget year, as of January, 2,355 students have been served through Kirkwood’s transportation programming. Of that, 45 have been in the CDL-A program, Hoehn said. Over the last five years, that program — specific to tractor trailers — served a total of 323.

“This change will only impact the behind-the-wheel portion of the CDL-A program,” according to Hoehn. “We will still offer classroom/theory for CDL-A, and both theory and hands on for all other programs.”

Plus, he said, Kirkwood has “worked out an agreement with a third party to continue to provide the hands on training component for students needing their CDL-A in Eastern Iowa.” Details of that arrangement weren’t immediately made public.

This week’s cuts come after Kirkwood last summer closed two of its 14 locations and in January announced plans to sell its Iowa City campus and relocate most of its operations to the regional center in Coralville.

Running concurrent with Kirkwood’s financial moves and enrollment losses — amplified during the pandemic — an independent auditor at the end of the 2022 budget year in June reported the college had improved its financial position.

“The college has executed sound financial management strategies in recent years to offset the impact of declining enrollment,” according to the audit, conducted by Denman & Company LLP and made public through the Iowa State Auditor's Office.

Kirkwood did so despite challenges that included a 12-percent enrollment drop in the 2021 budget year; damage, delays and costs associated with the August 2020 derecho; and 9 percent inflation as of summer 2022.

The auditor reported Kirkwood’s net position at the end of the 2022 budget year was $135 million — up from $124 million at the end of 2021 and $109 million at the end of 2020. Much of its gains came from state appropriations, property taxes and donations.

By eliminating its behind-the-wheel portion of its commercial driver’s license program, Hoehn said, Kirkwood will save in fuel, maintenance and replacement costs associated with the fleet of instructional vehicles.

“The majority of the equipment we have is beyond its useful life and we would have had to invest significant funds in the equipment and facility to maintain that aspect of the program,” he said.

Cost savings from cutting the Dental Technology and Energy Production and Distribution programs “would be for future equipment maintenance and replacement costs that the college would have had to incur had the programs continued.”

In both cases, Hoehn said, expenses would have reached the hundreds of thousands.

By laying off 28 employees, Kirkwood anticipates saving about $1.5 million a year.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com