Thanks to everyone who came out
on Tuesday to lobby our sups and yesterday to comment at the Board of Supervisors Committee HEARING on Free City and the Mansion tax. We are pleased to report that both the Free City and Mansion Tax measures made it out of committee with a 4-1 vote. We’re reclaiming the promise of free higher education in San Francisco one step at a time. And your voicing of support for Free City helped to make this happen!
Stay tuned as the campaign moves forward. In the meantime we need you to continue speaking up for free community college in San Francisco. Have you signed the petition yet?
One year without a contract: District violated 50% Law and Prop A
June 30, 2016 marks the one year anniversary that the faculty at CCSF have been working without a contract. AFT 2121 filed a complaint today with the California Community Colleges State Chancellors office documenting that the District violated the 50% law in 2014-15. The 50% law requires school Districts to spend at least 50% of its expenditures on classroom instruction. This confirms that the District’s policies of low faculty salaries and cuts to classes can not be sustained. The plan to cut classes 26% over 6 years when they already do not meet the requirements of the 50% law makes no sense.
We also asked the State Chancellor’s office to require the District to be transparent in how they report expenditures for Prop A. This lack of transparency is why some disturbing facts about the District and Prop A were not revealed until recently.
Here is what we know:
1) In 2014-15 an audit stated that CCSF barely spent the minimum required, 50.25% on instruction. However, this did not include information that AFT 2121 uncovered that shows they spent only 49.72% on instruction.
2) The District has chosen not to include the Prop A money in the 50% law calculation. They could choose to include it. If they had included it, CCSF would have spent only spent 46.61% on classroom instruction!
3) Not one dollar of Prop A funds in 2014-15 was spent on classroom instruction.
4) The CCSF administration has not followed the Prop A accountability provisions. They are required to produce a yearly report on Prop A. No report has ever been produced. Only after faculty complained was the required Citizens Oversight Committee created. They finally, after nearly 4 years, had a meeting last Thursday, a week ago.
5) The lack of oversight has led to a further lack of transparency in their accounting for the Prop A funds. This is what we asked the State Chancellor about.
6) Worst of all, the District has played accounting shell games in their attempts to meet the 50% law requirements. These shell games were designed to implement their plans for class cuts and keeping our salaries low.
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