President's Report
It’s the Year of the Horse and the semester is off at a gallop! Thanks to everyone who participated in the CCFT Flex week activities. It was great to hear Alisa Messer’s update on advocacy at City College of San Francisco and Andrea York’s update from FACCC. The Part Time Breakfast gave new and returning faculty an opportunity to share concerns from the adjunct perspective. Program Chairs met and decided to strengthen that group by meeting more often during the semester.
Faculty here at Cabrillo have gotten very active locally and statewide, putting together a resolution to ask the California Federation of Teachers to advocate for changes to repeatability regulations that limit student access and success. Unintended consequences of these rules, passed during the recent state budget crisis, are affecting many students and have resulted in low enrollment throughout the Community College system.
A number of factors have decreased enrollment this year, affecting the ability of the college to garner “restoration” funds, available to districts with growth above “cap.” Cabrillo is waiting with some trepidation for Census data, and the district is planning a full-service cybersession, late-starting classes, and a robust summer program to assure that there are enough students for us to reach “cap” and maintain ongoing funding.
Based on Governor Brown’s January budget proposal, there will be new money available for community colleges, but most of it is specified for things like “restoration of access,” “student success,” deferred maintenance & instructional equipment, and paying down the deferrals accrued during the budget crisis. It is unclear what formulas and accountability measures will be used to calculate the amounts for some of these categories. We are waiting to learn what revenues the new budget will bring to Cabrillo and identify what monies will be available to improve faculty compensation.
What is clear from a CCFT perspective is that the proposed COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) of .86% is lower than the 2013 Bay Area CPI (Consumer Price Index) of 2.6% and does not provide the revenue needed to keep up with the many costs of running the college. CFT and other groups are advocating for a larger COLA to address the cumulative inflation during the years of the recession.
You may recall that in 2013, CCFT negotiated a salary increase for all faculty that was a 1.1% ongoing raise and a 1.73% raise funded with one-time money, for a total of 2.73%.
In Solidarity,
Debora Bone
"The negotiations team will be back at the table this semester to negotiate salary and benefits for 2014-15. The first priority is to maintain the improvements from last year, perhaps with a combination of ongoing and one-time money, depending on the final state budget. Our second priority is to begin bringing Cabrillo salaries back up from their current placement in the lower half of community college salaries to an amount in the top third of the state, commensurate with the high cost of living here in the Bay Area. The third priority is to maintain the quality of the health benefits plans offered while providing affordable options for employees whose out-of-pocket share of cost makes health coverage very spendy." |
In addition, 50% of the increased health benefits cost was added to the benefit stipend for those receiving health benefits. The adjunct salary schedule was adjusted from 63% to 64.5% of the full time faculty schedule, also funded with one time money. The total cost to district of this compensation package was a 4% increase to faculty as a group.
The negotiations team will be back at the table this semester to negotiate salary and benefits for 2014-15. The first priority is to maintain the improvements from last year, perhaps with a combination of ongoing and one-time money, depending on the final state budget. Our second priority is to begin bringing Cabrillo salaries back up from their current placement in the lower half of community college salaries to an amount in the top third of the state, commensurate with the high cost of living here in the Bay Area. The third priority is to maintain the quality of the health benefits plans offered while providing affordable options for employees whose out-of-pocket share of cost makes health coverage very spendy.
In addition to negotiations for salary and benefits, CCFT has agreed to reopen the Contract section on Evaluation during 2014-15, so a study group with CCFT representatives and the division deans is planned for this spring. The goal is to identify shared interests and best practices, as well as to provide guidelines for the negotiation teams to use to develop a more efficient and effective system of evaluation. Instructors with ideas or concerns about evaluations are invited to attend CCFT Council meetings, contact your division representative, or contact Eric Hoffman with suggestions.
Also, SAVE THE DATE for the 2014 BURRITO BASH at Michael Mangin’s house on Friday, April 18, 4-7 pm. We look forward to celebrating with our fellow unionists from CCEU! Please plan to come!
On a personal note, many of you have heard that I have decided to take retirement at the end of this semester. It has been a privilege to serve with such a strong faculty to make our union vital and responsive to teachers' insights and concerns. Together we participate in college governance to have a voice in the decisions that affect all of us. These have been hard years for the state and for Cabrillo. I am proud of our collective commitment to make our work lives better and to provide our students and community with quality education. I know that you will find able leadership to take CCFT forward, and I will come back to visit often.