Make Next Fall at CCSF Different

Dear Community,

City College is an essential pathway to high quality jobs and a critical thinking community. Right now, demand for City College is increasing: students want to take advantage of CCSF’s affordable pathways to rewarding careers as Paramedics, Pharmacy Techs, Teachers, Nurses, Radiologists, & more. But as you all have heard, students need more foundational classes in English & Chemistry. This is a preventable crisis, yet CCSF’s interim Chancellor Bailey has spent the past year allowing this crisis to continue. Now he has a choice for next fall.

Without urgent action from Bailey, in the fall we will again see:

• Students Locked Out: Hundreds of students again turned away from gateway English and Chemistry courses. These students are future first responders and first generation college graduates blocked or delayed from their educational plans and living wage careers–or sent to other colleges (where SF students have to pay tuition). 271 students were locked out of English 1A this past fall, and right now, Interim Chancellor Bailey’s plan is to do the same thing this coming fall. We can’t let that happen.

• Financial Consequences: Next year is the last year the college has to expedite its transition to the new state funding formula (SCFF) by demonstrating significant enrollment growth (see more on ‘Restoration Authority’ here). Turning away hundreds of students from foundational classes will keep CCSF’s revenue frozen for longer, undermining the long term finances of our college.

The good news is that Interim Chancellor Bailey has the authority, budget, and time to make next fall different. That means:

• Add 9 sections of English 1A: College Reading & Writing to the CCSF fall schedule, and rehire the full-time teachers who are needed to teach them. English 1A is a foundational course that students need to complete a range of programs from Firefighting to Computer Science. Let’s finally resolve this crucial blockage and add the basic English classes SF students need!

• Add 6 section of Chemistry 32: Intro to Medical Chemistry to the CCSF fall schedule, and hire the 2 full-time faculty needed to teach them ASAP. This semester,193 students were locked out of Chemistry 32, a vital pipeline to healthcare programs from Nursing to Paramedic.

Students like Ruth Agüero have been waiting semester after semester for a seat in these classes. Students like her shouldn’t have to wait another semester to pursue their dreams and serve our communities.

This is a chance to fulfill our mission and make a smart, targeted investment in the long term financial stability of our college. We call on Interim Chancellor Bailey and other CCSF leaders, as they work on next year’s budget and schedule, to ensure SF students have the foundational English and Chemistry classes they need this fall.