With all due respect to recently departed Prime Minister Thatcher, famous for pushing the idea that “There Is No Alternative” (TINA), today our elected leaders in San Francisco and Sacramento helped prove that for City College, at least, there ARE alternatives. Our interim administration, special trustee, and board members have been pushing a steady TINA diet on the college in the name of accreditation, but the cracks are beginning to show.
Tuesday afternoon, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously for the resolution put forward by Supervisors Mar, Cohen, and Avalos that “urges the CCSF Board of Trustees and administration to utilize Proposition A funds as outlined in the language of Proposition A to preserve the quality and diversity of education that has served San Francisco well,” urges them to prioritize closing the achievement gap and ensuring equitable opportunities, and commits the City to exploring additional local support for CCSF. (See the full resolution below.)
Many thanks to all who helped make this show of support happen, especially the many AFT 2121 members who contacted their supervisors and the Lobby Committee of the Save CCSF Coalition who worked the halls and got some press attention. Students Cynthia Medrano, Sheila Cervantes, and Clifford Fajardo as well as faculty members Leslie Simon, Li Miao Lovett, Anna Asebedo, Diane Olivier, Hugo Aparicio, and Robert Fitch provided a broad and beautiful overview of CCSF’s value in our communities with their testimonies to the SF Budget and Finance Sub-Committee hearing last Wednesday. Many labor and community allies also spoke, made calls, and reiterated to our Supervisors that City College is valued by and belongs to the whole community, not just the few who continue with their TINA chants.
At nearly the same moment in Sacramento, in the Assembly Higher Education Committee, statewide electeds moved AB 1199 forward by a vote of 10-0. AB 1199 is a CFT bill carried by Assemblymember Paul Fong that would provide up to 3 years of bridge funding for a community college, such as ours, that has lost enrollment and consequently funding. In addition to support from our local Assemblymembers Tom Ammiano and Phil Ting and an additional unanimous vote by our SF Supervisors last month, AB 1199 has garnered statewide support, including from the California Teachers Association and the Service Employees International Union, groups that along with CFT represent community college employees throughout the state.
Resolution passed unanimously (11-0) Urging City College of San Francisco to Preserve the Quality and Diversity of the School’s Education and the City to Consider New Support
Resolution urging the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) Board of Trustees and administration to utilize Proposition A funds as outlined in the language of Proposition A to preserve the quality and diversity of education that has served San Francisco well and for the City to consider additional support for CCSF by evaluating the fees currently charged by the City to CCSF, the possibility of providing more in-kind services, and exploring long-term local support structures.
WHEREAS, For the past 78 years, City College of San Francisco (CCSF) has been crucial to the economic and social development of San Francisco and has been widely acknowledged to be one of the best community colleges in the country, providing a rich array of valued programs in nursing, radiology, culinary and hotel management; and
WHEREAS, CCSF provides an indispensable education to approximately 85,000 students per year, most of whom come from the working class, are people of color, and are from immigrant communities and for whom CCSF represents one of the only options for affordable higher education; and
WHEREAS, The 2012 report of the Accountability Reporting for Community Colleges (ARCC) measured a racial achievement gap at CCSF with significantly fewer African American, Filipino, Latino, and Pacific Islander students completing degrees or certificates or transferring to four-year colleges; and
WHEREAS, CCSF is committed as part of its mission to “enhance student success and close equity achievement gaps”; and
WHEREAS, CCSF has lost over $53 million in state cuts since 2007; and
WHEREAS, Class offerings, student support services, faculty and staff, and opportunities for student employment have all been severely cut; and
WHEREAS, The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges has made 14 recommendations to CCSF, to which the trustees, Chancellor and faculty have worked hard to address and submitted a comprehensive plan of addressing these recommendations on March 15 ; and
WHEREAS, The passage of Proposition A in November 2012, by an overwhelming 73% of San Francisco voters, will bring in between $14 million to $16 million a year to CCSF over each of the next eight years; and
WHEREAS, Funds raised through Proposition A are intended to alleviate the cuts that severely limited class offerings, student support services, faculty and staff positions, and opportunities for student employment; and
WHEREAS, As stated in the ballot measure language, Proposition A is to be used to specifically offset budget cuts, prevent layoffs, provide affordable quality education for students, maintain essential courses, and keep college libraries, student support services, and other instructional support open and up to date; and
WHEREAS, the Administration and Board of Trustees of City College face many difficult budgetary decisions as the college strives to maintain its accreditation; and
WHEREAS, Maintaining an adequate reserve fund as required by the Accrediting Commission is critical to the financial stability of CCSF; and
WHEREAS, When a decision must be made between providing services to people and growing a reserve fund, the scales must tip toward people in need; and
WHEREAS, A number of student, faculty, and community groups, as well as the San Francisco Youth Commission, have requested that the City and County of San Francisco examine how it could better support CCSF; and
WHEREAS, Quality and affordable public education that provides lifelong learning, workplace and life skills, academic pathways and opportunities, and cultural and personal enrichment is a universally acclaimed human right and essential to San Francisco’s economic viability; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the San Francisco Board of Supervisors urges the CCSF Board of Trustees and administration to utilize Proposition A funds as outlined in the language of Proposition A to preserve the quality and diversity of education that has served San Francisco well; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors urges the CCSF Board of Trustees and administration to prioritize initiatives to close the racial achievement gap and ensure equitable opportunities for educational success; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That among other priorities, the Board of Supervisors shall consider additional support for CCSF by evaluating the fees currently charged by the City to CCSF, the possibility of providing more in-kind services, and exploring long-term local support structures.
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