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P E R S P ECT IV E
May 2013
CAPITOL NEWS
Legislative Update Mónica Henestroza, CFT Legislative Director
State Revenue Legislation Proposition 30 restores a portion of programs and services that have been cut. However, it does not solve the state’s revenue problem completely. Over a billion dollars have been cut
constitutional vote requirement to 55 percent to approve a local community college or K-12 district parcel tax. This would provide more local control for districts to raise revenue. Recent polls by the Public
Proposition 30 restores a portion of programs and services that have been cut. However, it does not solve the state’s revenue problem completely. from the community colleges in the last five years, for instance; and Proposition 30 will restore just over $200 million to our system. For this reason, CFT is proud to co-sponsor legislation authored by the chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, Senator Mark Leno. SCA 3 (Leno) provides the voters of California an opportunity to lower the
Policy Institute of California have found support for this measure. SCA 3 will be heard in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee in mid-May. CFT is also working hard to advance our community college policy bills. Two bills that affect community college educators were heard in their first policy committee on April 9th, and passed successfully. FRED GLASS PHOTO
Judy Michaels accepts a California State Senate Resolution in her honor from Carl Friedlander, marking her retirement as CFT’s legislative director, at the CCC meeting during the CFT convention in March. Southern California CCC vicepresident Dean Mancina looks on.
May is Labor History Month It’s official: this May is the first annual Labor History Month. Signed into law as AB 2269 (Swanson) in 2012 by Governor Jerry Brown, its purpose is to encourage schools “to commemorate this month with appropriate educational exercises that make pupils aware of the role the labor movement has played in shaping California and the United States.” For more information, go to www.
Classified Employees Legislation The Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee heard CFT-sponsored AB 507 (Garcia), which increases the postretirement death benefit paid to the beneficiaries of educators in the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). At the hearing, Local 1521A member Mike Romo spoke eloquently from personal experience about the importance of adequate benefits. Many committee members, from both parties, were moved by his testimony. CFT is also involved in early discussions regarding AB 611 (Bonta), a legislative vehicle to address the California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s (CalSTRS) unfunded liability. Since the last issue of the Perspective, there has been a significant, positive development.
At the March 20, 2013, hearing of the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security Committee, Legislative Counsel presented its opinion that if the Legislature requires an increase in the mandated employer contribution to STRS for benefits authorized as of the 1986-87 fiscal year, then there will need to be a corresponding increase in the minimum guarantee prescribed by Proposition 98 (1988). While the details of this opinion still need to be sorted out, it could help efforts to fix CalSTRS’s fiscal health.
Finally, on April 23, CFTsponsored AB 1199 (Fong) overwhelming passed the Assembly Higher Education Committee. AB 1199 provides financial stability for a community college district that faces funding losses associated with enrollment losses following a severe accreditation sanction. This issue affects Local 2121 most immediately, but has broader repercussions given the frequency and ferocity of sanctions by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).
the ACCJC’s overreach. AB 1199, carried by San Jose’s Assemblymember Paul Fong, will create a stabilization formula for enrollment-related funding losses for any community college with a certified plan to improve accreditation status while under severe sanction from an accreditation agency. A community college experiencing enrollment decline over the subsequent year, and making progress to
address the sanctions, will be temporarily held harmless for failing to achieve its enrollment target. “It’s ironic that an accreditation agency itself has to be held to account,” says CFT president Joshua Pechthalt, who signed the complaint to ACCJC. “But it’s past time for someone to blow the whistle here. Community college faculty should be in their classrooms
with their students, not fearfully pushing paper to appease a wrong-headed “education reform” agenda, or worse, standing in unemployment lines because of these actions. CFT is prepared to do whatever it takes to make this right for students, faculty, and the quality of education in California’s community colleges.”
cft.org and click through to the Labor in the Schools Committee. You can order print materials there, as well as the 10-part video series on the history of the California labor movement, Golden Lands, Working Hands.
“ACCJC”, Continued from page 5
and how is the ACCJC getting away with what it’s doing? The precise answer to “why?” can only be speculative, given the lack of transparency in ACCJC deliberations. As to how it has managed, thus far, to break federal law, not to mention its own rules, with impunity, it’s because no one has stood up and said that it can’t. But that is now about to change. CFT’s complaint requires
action by the Department of Education within 30 days. [The complaint may be viewed at www.cft.org.] It states clearly that the ACCJC should be disqualified from judging CCSF, and the sanction imposed while engaging in a conflict of interest with the institution over which it was sitting in judgment must be lifted. CFT is also working on a legislative remedy to address some of the harm caused by
By Fred Glass
ANTON REFREGIER MURAL, RINCON ANNEX POST OFFICE, SAN FRANCISCO
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Community College Faculty Legislation The Assembly Higher Education Committee heard CFT-sponsored AB 950 (Chau), which limits the amount of excess work a fulltime faculty member in community colleges can be assigned. This bill builds on the work of AB 1826 (Hernandez), another CFT-sponsored measure from the last legislative session. Linda Sneed, CFT Vice President, and Pete Virgadamo, President of Local 6262, testified as the main witnesses in support of AB 950. During discussion, two committee members spoke in strong support of the legislation. Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) praised the measure for the positive impact it will have on student learning. Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside) spoke in support of the bill’s benefits to part-time faculty.
he state’s fiscal prospects are much improved thanks to the success of Proposition 30. April is a big month for tax receipts, and the LAO estimates the target this month for personal income taxes is $8.5 billion. By the time you read this, we will know how much revenue came in. This will be critical to the Governor’s May Revision updates.