The Austin Community College board of trustees began its first discussion April 1 on the 2014–18 strategic plan, which includes the college's broad goals, general guidance for the academic master plan and budget resource allocation.

Soon Merz, vice president of effectiveness and accountability for ACC, proposed that the board adopt a strategic plan every five years instead of three years to allow for more time to measure how the board's initiatives have progressed. However, trustee Victor Villarreal said he would prefer to continue adopting the plan every three years to keep the board more frequently engaged. Trustee Betty Hwang agreed.

"I agree with three years because there are a lot of things happening year after year," she said. "So within the three years, we are going to have a lot of changes."

Board Chairman Jeffrey Richards and ACC President Richard Rhodes both said that adopting a strategic plan every five years might not allow the college to have as much fiscal flexibility.

Rhodes said a good time to revisit the topic could be during the review of the academic master plan. Although no dates have been confirmed for the academic master plan review, he said it might take place after the end of April.