In March: Speak up for CCSF, public education chronically underfunded in SF!

Over the last year our beloved City College has suffered debilitating cuts. As the cycle of underfunding and falling enrollment continues, our diverse curriculum suffers. We are losing hundreds of classes each semester, counseling and library services are being slashed, faculty and staff are losing their jobs and healthcare, and students have an increasingly difficult time achieving their goals.

Our CCSF is both the first stop and a place of second chances for access to a quality public higher education in our City and is too important to lose!

We have made many efforts to bring more funding to CCSF, including our recent campaign for a city budget supplemental that would have restored our Spring 2020 schedule. Unfortunately, our most recent legislative effort to support CCSF was vetoed last month by Mayor Breed in spite of the support of many elected officials at City Hall.

We need to continue to show our elected leaders that CCSF is important to San Franciscans and we are committed to keeping the community in our community college!

What’s Next?

We need to continue to show our elected leaders that CCSF is important to San Franciscans who are committed to keeping the community in our community college!

AFT 2121, with our community and supervisor allies, are moving to secure the Community Higher Education Fund (CHEF), which would provide funding from the City to CCSF to protect and rebuild vital programs. But because CHEF won’t take effect until July 2021, AFT 2121 is pushing to include a “Bridge to CHEF” in the 2020-21 San Francisco Budget. With City officials now developing that Budget, we have new opportunities to ensure that we do not lose more classes, programs, and services. We need to demand that our city’s budget reflect that education is a priority in San Francisco!

Here are three important events that you can attend to stand up for CCSF:

• SF Budget Town Hall
  Wed. 3/11, 5-6:30pm, SF Main Public Library
  

  Mayor Breed is hosting a Budget Town Hall to get input on what the City budget should fund over the next 2 years. It is a critical opportunity to voice our concerns about the state of public education in the City, where both CCSF and SFUSD are facing budget cuts and downsizing due to inadequate funding. Tell the Mayor that San Francisco deserves a fully-funded community college, and her budget priorities must reflect this need. Fully fund CCSF because these cuts won’t heal!

  If you’re going please let AFT 2121 Organizer Athena Waid know (awaid@aft2121.org). Space is limited so sign up for a free ticket to the event. You can submit budget questions here, or comments to the Mayor’s Budget Office here.

• Hearing: Chronic Underfunding of Education in SF
  Fri. 3/13, 10am-1pm, City Hall, room 250
  RSVP and INVITE
  

  The Joint Education Committee will be hosting a hearing specifically on Chronic Underfunding of Public Education and Possible Local Solutions. This hearing is a place to hear from elected officials what their plans are to fix the chronic underfunding of our education, and also a place to speak up. The communities of SF have brought forward ways to mitigate the underfunding of CCSF but the City hasn’t been as supportive as it should’ve been. We need ongoing support from the City to ensure our CCSF is fully funded!

• Community Higher Education Fund Rally & Kickoff
  Tues. 3/24, 12pm, City Hall steps
  RSVP and INVITE
  

  Join Supervisor Gordon Mar, AFT 2121, Jobs with Justice, and other allies in calling on the City of San Francisco to create the Community Higher Education Fund (CHEF) as a permanent source of funding for CCSF that will help stop and reverse many of the recent cuts that have deeply impacted our communities. Let’s show our elected leaders that CCSF is important to San Franciscans and we are committed to keeping the community in our community college!