Continuing to Call for an Informed Budget Process

Two weeks ago, we reported that City College’s Interim Chancellor was calling for significant cuts. We can now report that CCSF will in fact run a $20-25 million budget surplus in 2024-25, the largest the college has seen in over a decade. (See AFT’s 24-25 report on the college’s $20-25M surplus here.) This is a clear indication that the college is not running the supposedly dire “structural deficit” that the Interim Chancellor claimed.

For the past 5 years, AFT 2121’s Budget Analysis Team has projected the college’s finances with greater accuracy than District leaders.

AFT 2121’s call to the CCSF administration has been consistent: report budget data in a transparent manner, and then use that data to make projections for goal-setting and budgeting so that the college can best fulfill our mission while maintaining good financial practices. This is a reasonable ask.

The Board and the college have been operating under the shadow of last year’s ACCJC warning over governance and finances, based in part on false financial information provided by former Chancellor David Martin. Thus, calls for transparency in budget and schedule decisions are all the more warranted.

This year, the college’s Budget Office has made huge headway in clarification and transparency over the previous administration. But the college continues to cut in areas where responsible investments now would yield much larger benefits later. This is not rocket science, as they say. But it does require some creativity—and using all the financial information available.

Now, More than Ever: Strategic Growth, Not Costly Cuts
City College is turning away hundreds of students every semester from essential gateway classes, such as English 1A and Chemistry 32. Un-captured growth means both abandoning students *and* extending budget challenges well into the future. We can move beyond Hold Harmless and back to receiving COLAs (Cost of Living Adjustments) sooner if the college prioritizes students. Next year is the college’s final opportunity to expedite its transition out of a revenue freeze and onto the new state funding formula (SCFF).

If the college does not add to the schedule strategically and soon, we turn away students who are in fact already clamoring to get in. Meanwhile, we push out existing students who can’t get into classes to finish degrees and enter programs. Will the college fulfill our mission and our responsibility to these students? Where are the administration’s plans to respond to these challenges?

Given the unmet demand, the current $20+M budget surplus, and the financial importance of next year, now is the moment to:  

• Pursue targeted schedule growth to better serve students and stabilize CCSF’s finances. This is both educationally necessitated and financially prudent, due to Restoration Authority.
• Engage in college-wide planning based on sound financial analysis, not sales pitches.

Collectively, we have survived the ongoing challenges of the educational funding landscape and targeted attempts to shut us down and take away our accreditation. We challenge the college community to engage in open, informed conversations about how to make our way forward. We owe it to each other as faculty and as members of the college community, as well as to our students and to the City that we serve.

Keep your blue envelope from the Department of Elections!

Your COPE (Committee on Political Education) held its final meeting of the year and has issued an informal endorsement for Ruth Sappelt for Health Service Board Election, as our endorsement comes after the official filing deadline. The HSB works on the City of San Francisco dental and health insurance plans. Unfortunately, very few people vote in the election due to lack of information. This is an opportunity to vote for someone who would have the broader community in mind when making decisions. The ballots must be received by the Department of Elections no later than 5pm on Friday, May 30th.