Topic: Education Funding
FAQ: Part-time faculty healthcare, the state budget, and collective bargaining
Quick answers to common questions
About half of the California community college districts offer healthcare benefits for part-time faculty; the quality of the benefits is wide-ranging with some offering the same benefits package to full- and part-time faculty and some offering very modest stipends to help cover the cost of insurance.
Part-timers and allies lobby legislators for healthcare, pay parity
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Students and full-time faculty join forces with part-time faculty
From the Bay Area to San Diego, and from the Central Valley to the Mojave Desert, part-time community college faculty, along with full-time faculty and student allies, gathered at Sacramento’s famed Sutter Club on Monday morning, May 1, to go forth and make California legislators aware of the critical need for part-time faculty healthcare and pay parity.
Part-Time Faculty Conference empowers through learning
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Workshops focus on bargaining, lobbying, organizing, diversity, communications
When it comes to union work, power and knowledge work hand in hand. Union is not simply about expressing demands, speaking truth to power, and being resolute in the face of adversity. It’s about making connections, sharing truths, building solidarity, empowering, and speaking to be heard.
Developing the knowledge to do these things and putting the power of that knowledge to use was core to the workshops at the CFT Part-Time Faculty Conference held May 1-2 in Sacramento.
Governor directs even more funding to education in May Revision
Legislative Update
Newsom keeps $200 million in ongoing funding for part-time faculty healthcare
Governor Newsom proposed significant increases for education and a 6.56% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in his revised proposal of the 2022-23 state budget released May 13. Education funding accounts for the majority of state budget expenditures, but the governor also proposes an inflation relief package and monies to combat housing insecurity.
Part-time faculty power up for change
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Conference spotlights CFT equity campaign for contingent faculty
A crowd of more than 100 members strong — some seasoned part-timers with decades of experience, others new adjuncts for which this was their first union event — were engaged as the CFT Part-Time Faculty Conference opened to roars and cheers with its theme of “Equity for Contingent Faculty.” The feeling one had as a part-timer was best summed up by Lin Chan, co-chair of the CFT Part-Time Faculty Committee, “You’re not one person…you’re one of thousands.”
Groundbreaking CFT survey calls out healthcare crisis among part-time faculty
Critical insights into part-time faculty in community colleges statewide
The results of CFT’s groundbreaking statewide survey of part-time faculty offer critical insights into the daily, personal, and structural challenges that part-time and contingent faculty experience when it comes to healthcare.
What does losing healthcare look like for part-time faculty in our community colleges? Part 2
Pandemic, declining enrollment has led to loss of health benefits
Samira Rostami has taught Communication Studies at Grossmont College since 2014, as well as at four other San Diego area higher ed institutions including the University of San Diego. Her health took a dramatic turn for the worse shortly after area campuses closed in late March 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
What does losing healthcare look like for part-time faculty in our community colleges? Part 1
Pandemic, declining enrollment has led to loss of health benefits
Honour Harry works two jobs — as a freelance illustrator and doing children’s education at a local church — in addition to her job teaching art for the North Orange Community College District. Harry doesn’t teach on campus. Instead, she goes into nursing homes, often working with people who are in memory care and who are immunocompromised.
CFT analyzes governor’s proposed budget for 2022-23
Research Brief
Governor Newsom introduced a $286.4 billion budget proposal for 2022-23 on January 10. The proposed budget is 9% larger than last year’s record high budget, largely because of tax receipts that were even higher than expected. The governor’s office is anticipating a $21 billion discretionary surplus for 2022-23 and this includes billions more for education.
CFT continues push to tax extreme wealth in California
Assemblymember Alex Lee re-introduces legislation to tax billionaires
This week Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose) re-introduced his bill, now titled AB 2289, that seeks to impose a tax on the extreme wealth of the richest Californians. The bill would impact approximately 17,000 multi-millionaires and billionaires in California, which is 0.07% of the total taxpayers in our state.
CFT is a proud sponsor of this bill — that would raise more than $22 billion in revenue annually — and will be working closely with Assemblymember Lee as it makes its way through the state Legislature.
Education sees another increase in governor’s state budget proposal
Legislative Update
Governor Newsom proposed significant increases for education and a 5.33% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) in his state budget for 2022-23 released January 8. In his proposal, the governor addressed five concurrent state crises — COVID-19, climate change, inequality, homelessness, and public safety — several of which are reflected in the education budget. This budget is a preliminary proposal subject to negotiations with the Legislature and will be revised in May, with its final passage in June.
Member action leads governor to pledge $200 million toward part-time faculty healthcare
CFT campaign brings early success in state budget
The CFT campaign to secure healthcare for part-time faculty in the community colleges is up and running, and it’s clear that member action has already led to early success in Sacramento.
During the holiday break, 1,400 people sent letters to Governor Newsom and key legislators demanding funding for part-time faculty healthcare. As a result of these efforts, the governor allocated $200 million in his January 10 state budget proposal to fund healthcare for part-time faculty on an ongoing basis. This increase represents more than 400 times the level of funding in the existing state program.
LAO predicts $31 billion budget surplus for 2022-23
Research Brief
Each November, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (the non-partisan advisor for the state Legislature) prepares a fiscal outlook in anticipation of the state budget process that kicks off in January with the governor’s budget proposal.
Overall, revenues are growing at historic rates and the LAO estimates the state will have a $31 billion surplus to allocate in 2022‑23. The Proposition 98 guarantee for schools and community colleges is estimated to be $11.6 billion (12.4% above the 2021-22 enacted budget). LAO estimates $9.5 billion will be available for new commitments and $10.2 billion will be available for one-time spending.
What does gratitude look like? Find out from three members deep in student debt
How AFT’s legal victory with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program will change lives
In 2018, Jessica Saint-Paul, who has a doctorate in medical science and teaches public health and health occupation courses at Southwest and Trade Tech colleges, attended a benefits conference put on by her local, the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild. They covered Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a federal program that promised if you worked in public service for 10 years and made 120 payments, the remainder of your loan would be forgiven.
What’s in the largest ever state education budget?
Legislative Update — historic investment coming in 2021-22
On July 9, Governor Newsom signed a historic education budget with an unprecedented investment in our students and schools.
The California Legislature voted on and passed identical budget bills (AB/SB 129) on June 28, after reaching agreement with the governor about most budget issues. The full budget is $263 billion, thanks to an extraordinary surplus and the latest round of federal stimulus funding from the American Rescue Plan. A few outstanding details will be finalized in trailer bills.
CFT sponsors California tax on extreme wealth
Why tax extreme wealth?
Since the beginning of the pandemic last March, while our families and our communities have suffered gut-wrenching pain and loss, billionaires in our state alone have increased their wealth by over half a trillion dollars.
And their numbers and their extreme wealth just keep on growing. In March 2020, just as COVID began, there were 154 billionaires in California – with a total wealth of $688.3 billion. In January 2021, there were 169 billionaires in California – with a total wealth of more than $1.2 trillion.
Legislative Analyst forecasts state revenue windfall for 2021-22
Legislative Update
Each November, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) is tasked with providing the state Legislature with forecasting of the state’s revenue and budget constraints. Those numbers have just been released to provide a starting point for what to expect in budget negotiations for the California 2021-22 state budget.
Prop 15 defeated, but our coalition remains strong
CFT members worked so hard to put Proposition 15, also known as Schools & Communities First, on the November ballot and over the finish line right through the close of polling places on Election Day.
But after election day, Prop 15 was trailing by about 400,000 votes with approximately 4 million votes yet to be counted. CFT and campaign allies were optimistic and patient, holding out hope that the measure would amass the votes needed to pass.
Top 5 reasons to vote NO on Prop 22
Make corporations pay their fair share!
Although there are many important races, Voting NO on Prop 22 is one of the most important decisions you can make on the ballot this year. Here’s why:
- Uber, Lyft and other giant gig corporations have spent $200 million on Prop 22 in an effort to exempt themselves from all labor laws that protect workers. We’re talking about basic protections like a minimum wage, sick leave, workers’ comp and unemployment insurance. These multi-billion dollar corporations are trying to strip workers of virtually every right we’ve fought decades to enact.
Prop 15: It’s not just about closing corporate tax loopholes
It’s about protecting adjunct faculty too!
California is at an educational crossroads made dire by the coronavirus pandemic, and Proposition 15 is an important step in getting California back on the right track.
COVID-19 has not only ravaged the health and lives of countless Californians — it has also ravaged state revenues, with Governor Newsom himself acknowledging overall state revenue declines being in the “tens of billions.”