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Volume 39, Number 3 May 2008

Budget battleheats up

John Kirk may be about to retire, but he’s not goinggentle into that good night.

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Standing up for faculty

CFT Convention 2008The delegates debated issues, made policy, and hada little fun in Oakland.

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Helpful handbook:New pamphlet takes unemployment insurance forcontingent faculty step by step.

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Community College Council of the California Federation of TeachersAmerican Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO

Budget battleheats uppage 4

The California Federation of Teachersis an affiliate of the American Federation ofTeachers, AFL-CIO.

The CFT represents over 120,000 educationalemployees working at every level of educationin California. The CFT is committed to raisingthe standards of the profession and tosecuring the conditions essential to providethe best service to California’s students.

President Marty Hittelman

Secretary-Treasurer Dennis Smith

Perspective is published three times during theacademic year by CFT’s Community CollegeCouncil.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE COUNCIL

President Carl FriedlanderLos Angeles College Guild, Local 15213356 Barham Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90068Email cfriedlander@aft1521.orgDirect inquiries regarding the CommunityCollege Council to Carl Friedlander

Southern Vice President Mona FieldGlendale College Guild, Local 22761500 N. Verdugo RoadGlendale, CA 95020

Northern Vice President Dean MurakamiLos Rios College Federation of TeachersAFT Local 22791127 - 11th Street, #806Sacramento, CA 95814

Secretary Kathy HollandLos Angeles College Guild, Local 1521,3356 Barham Blvd.,Los Angeles, CA 90068

Editor Fred GlassLayout Design Action Collective

EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONSDirect editorial submissions to:Editor, Community College Perspective.California Federation of Teachers1201 Marina Village Parkway, Suite 115Alameda, CA 94501Telephone 510-523-5238Fax 510-523-5262Email cftoakland@igc.orgWeb www.cft.org

TO ADVERTISEContact the CFT Secretary-Treasurer for acurrent rate card and advertising policies.

Dennis Smith, Secretary-TreasurerCalifornia Federation of Teachers2550 North Hollywood Way, Ste. 400Burbank, CA 91505Telephone 818-843-8226Fax 818-843-4662Email smithd13@aol.comAlthough advertisements are screened ascarefully as possible, acceptance of anadvertisement does not imply CFT endorsementof the product or service.

Perspective is a member of the InternationalLabor Communications Association and AFTCommunications Association.Perspective is printed and mailed by the all-union,environmentally friendly Alonzo Printing inHayward, California. It is printed on 20% post-consumer content recycled paper using soy-based inks.

2 PERSPECTIVE May 2008

EDITORIAL

Print is nice.Electrons are faster.

The Perspective brings you information you need to know on a quarterly basis. For themost current union news, recent media coverage of education issues, and key informationabout the California Federation of Teachers and its activities, visit the CFT website regularly.

www.cft.orgIt’s not an either/or. Come see us online.

On front cover: College and university students march and rally bythe thousands in Sacramento on April 21 to stop budget cuts.CHRIS HANZO, PHOTO

budget crisis. It’s time to move thestatues back into the streets.Andit’s time for all of us—and ourstudents—to join them there.The10,000 plus-strong “Marches inMarch”of 2003 and 2004 were agiant leap forward in communitycollege advocacy and activism.Sacramento decision-makers tooknotice of our system in new waysand began to treat us with morerespect. But time passes,memoriesfade, faces change and a refreshercourse is needed.We need tomake our individual and collec-tive voices heard in support of

� backfilling the 2007-08 proper-ty tax shortfall for communitycolleges

� protecting Prop 98 and givingcommunity colleges their fairshare of Prop 98 funds

� maintaining student fees attheir current $20/unit levelwith no increase

� stopping the relentless escala-tion of student fees in CSUand UC

� making all of this possible byaugmenting State revenue byclosing loopholes and imple-menting the tax and revenueincrease proposals put forwardby CFT.

You can send this message byparticipating in and organizingrallies, press events and demon-strations, meeting with your leg-islators in their local offices,writing, emailing and callingyour representatives, sending let-ters to the editor, and in a host ofother ways.We need to use every oppor-

tunity to get our message out. Ifyou think those four year oldstatues will help you get yourpoint across, don’t hesitate to callon them.

Merger talks to beginAt the April 11 CCC meeting

during the CFT Convention, wehad a thoughtful and provocativepreliminary discussion about thepossibility of creating a mergedcommunity college organizationthat combined the membershipof CCC/CFT-AFT andCCA/CTA-NEA and providedall members (there would bearound 45,000) with affiliation toboth state and national organiza-tions.This was in response to anapproach made to the CCCleadership by the officers ofCCA, and the official blessing forthat approach by the statewideCTA leadership.Thirty-five years ago, CFT and

CTA had little in common.CFTlobbied for and supported lawsgiving K-14 employees collectivebargaining rights, while CTAopposed them.CFT excludedadministrators but included clas-sified employees while CTA didexactly the opposite. CFTrequired AFL-CIO affiliation,while CTA wouldn’t dream of it.But over the last three or fourdecades, these fundamental dif-ferences between the two unionshave either vanished completelyor, in the case of AFL-CIOaffiliation, eroded.So it seems sensible to talk,

and those discussions will nowget underway.

In the four years since, the stat-ues have been sitting idly in abarn at Pierce College.As Cali-fornia’s economy rebounded andthe drive for higher communitycollege fees temporarily stalled,public displays of the statuesceased. Funding, includingmoney for enrollment growth,improved slightly; fees stayed at$26/unit and, in Spring 2007,were reduced to $20/unit;statewide enrollment beganrecovering from the mass student

exodus of 2002-04; access tocommunity college seemed to bemaking a comeback.But times are bad again in Cali-

fornia and across the nation, so Iwas not surprised to get a call afew days ago informing me thatthe statues were being picked upat Pierce and transported toSacramento on the eve of theApril 21 rally in defense of publichigher education.California isonce again threatening to eat itsyoung by cutting its way out of a

Most of you will remember the “Missing Student statues” of Spring 2004, when we faced adreadful budget hole, whopping fee increases and drastically declining student enrollment(they tend to go hand in hand), and the possibility of a suspension of Proposition 98.The

brainchild of CCSF’s Leslie Smith, the statues were a brilliant combination of a statewide student artproject and a galvanizing symbol of protest against the attacks on community college student access.

Taking the LeadCarl Friedlander, CFT Community College Council President

They’re back…the Missing Student statues

MARK YOUR 2008 CALENDAR

May 16 CFT Division Councils, Manhattan Beach Marriott

May 17 CFT State Council, Manhattan Beach Marriott

June 22-27 Union Leadership Institute West, UCLA

July 10 – 14 AFT Convention, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL

August 11-13 CFT Leadership Institute, UCLA

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“Missing Student” statues reappear in Sacramento during the marchand rally on April 21. If the state budget is cut along the linesproposed by the governor, expect thousands of students to gomissing from the community colleges once more.

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For Kirk,“that book made amajor change in my whole out-look on life. I realized that whatmakes a difference in our livesisn’t so much who’s president.Unions and the labor movementhave a much greater impact onworking people.”Part of the reason why Labor’s

Untold Story is on his syllabus isthat the lives of working peoplein general are absent from main-stream histories. “I bring in a lotof labor history,” Kirk says. “I useGerald Hunt’s Laboring for Rights,or Monopoly Capital, by PaulBaran and Paul Sweezy, so thatstudents can get some under-standing of a Marxist approach toeconomics. Then we’ll go on toJohn Maynard Keynes and classi-cal economic theory. There ismore than one way of looking atthe world, even if more radicalperspectives are often excisedfrom the accepted curriculum.Our students can only under-stand where they are by findingout how they got there.”He often also assignsWilliam

Domhoff ’sWho Rules America? “Itry to present them with evidencein class that shows that the pur-pose of business is business: mak-ing the maximum profit. If theycan understand why inequality issuch a part of our system, they’llfigure out for themselves whyunions are necessary.”

Union activistWith that perspective, it’s not

surprising that Kirk has been aunion activist almost since hisuniversity days, and that he cameup during the ferment and tur-moil of the 1960s. Son of areporter for the San FranciscoChronicle, Kirk grew up in Red-wood City. He went to the Uni-versity of California in Berkeley,and graduated in 1964, justmonths before the campus wasshaken by the first of the 1960s’great student revolts—the FreeSpeech Movement. He then gothis masters degree in economicsat San Jose State University.When he finished, Kirk began

applying for teaching jobs, butonly one community college dis-trict was hiring, for positions inthe ImperialValley. He and hiswife Judy moved to Brawley, oneof 25 new faculty members. “Wewere paid $6700 a year to start,”he remembers,“so a bunch of usyoung people got on the negoti-ating team, and won a $9000salary, a significant raise.”After two years, he and his

wife decided to return to theBay Area. After spending thenext year as a freeway flyer, Kirkwas hired as a full-time instructorat College of San Mateo in 1970.A year later, he was fired to allowthe return of another teacherwho’d gone off to law school.

Kirk didn’t do anything to con-test his termination for a year,after being told by a lawyer forthe CaliforniaTeachers Associa-tion that nothing could be done.That was when he met Pat

Manning, who held a PhD inAfrican history. Kirk remembersadmiring Manning because “hedid all the budget work for theAFT locals in the state. Heshowed me how we could havefought my case.”Manningbecame one of the greatestinfluences on his life.

A formidable teamAfter Kirk returned to College

of San Mateo the next year, heand Manning formed aformidable team. Along withactivists from other locals, includ-ing Ed Perlstein and LouisShelleda of Peralta, LarrySchwartz from San Diego, andHyWeintraub from Los Angeles(who became the first presidentof the Council) the two helpedpull together the organizingcommittee for what became theCFT Community CollegeCouncil, and once it was up and

running in 1971, convinced theFederation to come up withmoney to pay part-time organiz-ers. Kirk was one of those hired.The two wanted the union to

organize community collegelocals, in preparation for the pas-sage of collective bargaining leg-islation for public education.Ironically, the CTA won the firstelection at CSM, but four yearslater, Kirk,Manning and othersled the drive to certify the CFTas the faculty bargaining agent.Then, just after the Peralta

Decision became law in 1979,Kirk won tenure at CSM. “Thelaw originally was very contra-dictory, saying that if you taughtless than 60% you’d be tempo-rary forever, and then said thatno one could be temporary formore than two semesters. I gotmy tenure just before the Peraltadecision, in which the SupremeCourt said that if you’d beenteaching part time before 1967you could become permanent,but if you’d been hired later (as Iwas), you were lost.” In 1980,after Kirk and other facultythreatened the district with a suit

for cutting his teaching load, anew chancellor finally gave him afull-time position.“The way I was treated moti-

vated me to get active in theunion, to keep others from beingtreated the same way,”Kirk says.“I’ve held every position in ourunion—president, executive sec-retary, chief negotiator—but I’vebeen doing grievances for 30years. I like it better. In negotia-tions you have to compromise.In grievances, you get to win.”

The casesOne of his first cases involved

just the kind of issues that hadpropelled him into activism. Afirst year instructor had beengiven a bad evaluation on March14, and the next day received aMarch 15 notice. “The law atthe time allowed administratorsto terminate a first-year teacherfor no reason, and they wantedto create an open position forsomeone else,” Kirk remembers.“The CTA lawyer told him it

May 2008 PERSPECTIVE 3

“We’re defending people’s right to due process. It’s easy to take rights away from someone

who’s unpopular. But that’s the first step to taking rights away from everyone.”

MEMBER PROFILE

While John Kirk teaches Keynesian and classical economic theory,his students are as likely to find their textbook is Labor’sUntold Story as a drier,more conservative tome. Written by Herbert J.Morais and Richard O.Boyer,Labor’sUntold Story brings alive the great figures and achievements of working class history, like Sacco andVanzetti, the

Molly Maguires, and Albert Parsons and the Haymarket martyrs who began the movement for the 8-hour day.

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“In grievances you get to win”San Mateo’s John Kirk

John Kirk in his prime.

I expected the change in my assignment to comeabout through the usual process of consultation betweenmyself and the appropriate Dean.My repeated requestsfor a meeting to discuss my future assignment werecompletely ignored. I was stunned when the class sched-ule for the next semester was published with my nameattached to an extremely punitive assignment, which Icould only conclude was retribution for my advocacy onbehalf of my program and community agencies.My new assignment consisted of four different prepa-

rations with classes in five different locations at radicallydifferent times of day.A number of my classes were invarious different community settings. Some were at

night and some in the morning. I immediately consultedwith our chief grievance officer, John Kirk.Hedescribed this as the most punitive schedule he had everseen and agreed to represent me at a meeting with thevice president for Instruction.Prior to the meeting John shared with me informa-

tion about new legislation providing stiff penalties,including both fines and imprisonment, for administra-tors who retaliate against community college facultymembers.At the meeting with the vice president, John pointed

out that it is customary past practice to meet withinstructors whose schedules are being changed before a

final assignment is deter-mined.The vice presidentinformed John that this meet-ing, requested by John,wassuch a meeting.At this point John literally

rose out of his chair, stood upand said in a loud voice,“Thisis that meeting? After theschedule has already been printed and distributed?”I then stated my feeling that the schedule I had been

given was punitive and had been assigned to me as retal-iation. I also produced the information John had givenme about the legislation providing for jail time and finesfor administrators who retaliate against faculty.I could see the vice president start to visibly shake. She

said she had not done this on her own but at the direc-tion of the college president. She immediately agreed to

John Kirk “stands up” for faculty rights

Mysituation was not good.A new administration at my college had decided to eliminate many long standingprograms.My own very successful program was one of those being dismantled. Students were outraged.The community was outraged.Out of a desire to act ethically and inform both students and our local

community partners that a critical program serving the needs of disabled students was being eliminated, I immedi-ately shared information about cuts with program participants. It was critical that these students receive as muchtime as possible to find alternatives.

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By Ernie Rodriguez

San Mateo’s John Kirkcontinued on page 7

John Kirk “Stands Up” continued on page 8

4 PERSPECTIVE May 2008

STATEWIDE

The authors of the wistfullytitled report,“It Could Happen:Unleashing the Potential of Cali-fornia’s Community Colleges toHelp Students Succeed and Cali-forniaThrive,” seem unaware ofthe literary resonance with Sin-clair’s book. That’s in keepingwith a lot else that they areunaware of in the report’s analysisand recommendations.“It Could Happen” is the most

recent of three reports producedby a team of CSU Sacramento-based education policy professorsheaded by Nancy Shulock.Beginning with a laudablegoal—“More students need tocomplete certificate, degree, andtransfer programs because of thegrowing need for a college edu-cation in today’s economy”—thereport briefly acknowledges thatcommunity colleges are providedinadequate resources by the stateto accomplish their job. Thenthe report turns toward itsmain targets:

� We know what works but wedon’t do it;

� Financial policies preventgreater student success; and

� An institutional culture thatresists change.

“It Could Happen” identifiessix “strategies” that, if adopted,would move community collegestudents toward more successfuloutcomes. These are

1. increase students’ readiness forcollege before they arrive;

2. help students achieve early suc-cess by directing them to theright classes at the beginning,including remedial work ifthey need it;

3. help students establish cleareducational goals and pathwaysfor achieving those goals;

4. encourage students to followeffective enrollment patterns –such as attending full-time andcontinuously (without stopping

out and re-starting);5. provide the intensive support ser-

vices students need to succeedin and out of the classroom;

6. use data to inform decisions abouthelping students succeed.

It would be hard to argue withany of these recommendations.The report goes into detail abouthow the six strategies, if imple-mented, would improve studentsuccess. In their introduction,the report’s authors note withalarm,“Ours is one of the onlynations where older adults aremore educated than youngeradults.” California ranks thirdamong states in the share of pop-ulation with Associate degrees orhigher in the 65 and older agegroup, but twenty-ninth for its25 – 34 year olds. And the trendlines are not getting better.Unfortunately, in arguing for

policies like providing clear edu-cational pathways for studentsright from the start, the report’s

authors fail to note that Californiacommunity colleges provide onecounselor per two thousandpupils (recommended ratio:300-1). The report mentions theCalifornia Master Plan for High-er Education (1960), but fails tolocate the student days of the 65and older cohort—with itsexcellent ranking of degree hold-ers—precisely in that early-1960sera of adequate funding for pub-lic education at all levels.Today California community

colleges rank 45th in the countryin per pupil spending.“It CouldHappen” points out that Califor-nia has special challenges withhigh numbers of English lan-guage learners—although thisfact remains uncorrelated in thereport with its implications forK-12 funding and how to

achieve strategy number one,“readiness.”Again and again “It Could

Happen” runs, seemingly blindly,into the same little problem.CFT president Marty Hittelman,a long-time community collegemath instructor, puts the mattersuccinctly: “If only we had thefunding to do all the things Shu-lock suggests we do, it would bea wonderful world.”Until such time as the public,

the legislature, the governor, anduniversity policy wonks recog-nize that the central barrier tocommunity college student suc-cess is massive underfunding ofpublic education, the moreappropriate title for “It CouldHappen”will continue to be ItCan’t Happen Here.

By Fred Glass

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The largest contingent camefrom San Francisco. AFT Local2121, the San Francisco Commu-nity College Federation ofTeach-ers, sent eleven busloads ofstudents and faculty. CCSF stu-dent ShawnYee gave a greatspeech, according to AFT 2121president Ed Murray, and Lieu-tenant Governor John Garamendidid too. English instructor AlisaMesser carried a sign that read,

“Tax the rich, not communitycollege students.” Students boreplacards reading,“Tax the top 1%to fund education.”Smaller rallies took place else-

where in the state on the sameday. In Los Angeles, one hundredfifty people came out to PershingSquare. About a third were fromthe Glendale College Guild,AFTLocal 2276.In the governor’s January budget

proposal, he asked the communitycollege chancellor’s office to iden-tify one-time reductions totaling$40 million, to come from alreadyallocated monies that have not yetbeen spent on various programs.The chancellor’s office found $31million in these categories. Thegovernor accepted this self-muti-lation as adequate, and that wasthe number the legislature wasworking with until the bad newsarrived about the property tax

shortfall (see article elsewhere onthis page).The CFT is working on coor-

dinated efforts with other educa-tion organizations and allies inthe labor movement and broadercommunity to convince the pub-lic and elected officials in Sacra-mento that at least some of thebudget deficit must be made upthrough fair tax policies. Go towww.cft.org for analysis of thestate’s budget problems and

progressive revenue solutions.Write or visit your legislatorsand let them know how theproposed cuts will affect yourstudents. Watch for notice ofpublic demonstrations, and planto participate. The people wehave elected to represent us willneed your help to understandthat part of their job is to raisetaxes when necessary. This is oneof those times.

By Fred Glass

In 1930 novelist Sinclair Lewis won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first American so honored. Bestknown for his social criticism inMain Street,Arrowsmith, and Babbit, Lewis also penned a less-rememberedforay into speculative fiction, It Can’t Happen Here, about a Fascist takeover of the United States. Unfortunately, in arguing for policies like providing clear

educational pathways for students right from the start, the

report’s authors fail to note that California community colleges

provide one counselor per two thousand pupils.

Counting the wrong things

“It Could Happen” recognizescentral problem, then ignores it

OnApril 21,thousands of students,along with college and universityinstructors,staff,administrators,parents,politicians,and other sup-porters, converged on Sacramento for a rally against higher educa-

tion budget cuts. They came from across the state to present the legislatureand governor with a picture of what the proposed cuts would look like. Theirhope was that the show of commitment and public spirit would change theminds of decision-makers who seem to think that slashing an already-skeletalbudget further is preferable to raising taxes.

Educate, Agitate, Organize

Budget protests hintof what’s to come

Students from City College San Francisco took buses to Sacramento on April 21 to deliver their message withthis banner.

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May 2008 PERSPECTIVE 5

POLITICS

The delegates adopted policypositions, heard speakers on edu-cation and politics, attendedworkshops, and took some timefor a little fun, lifting their voiceswith the Rockin’ SolidaritySingers. Many took an elevatorup to an evening reception host-ed by the Peralta and San Fran-cisco Community College AFTlocals on the 22nd floor of thehotel. (One elevator-full experi-enced some difficulties comingback down, chronicled in animpromptu video of their rescueby firefighters, recorded byCabrillo College instructorJohn Govsky and played forthe delegates the next day.) Inaddition, the CFT bestowed itscoveted “Legislator of theYear”award on state assemblymanTony Mendoza.

No second chance at childhoodAt a press conference before

the convention began, CFTpresident Marty Hittelman,flanked by two K-12 teacherswho received March 15 notices,argued that the legislature andgovernor need to solve the state'sbudget problems with fair taxincreases, not cuts, to supporteducation and other necessarysocial services.“Students and teachers didn’t

cause this budget problem, andthey should not be forced to paythe price,” said Hittelman.“Nochild gets a second chance attheir childhood or youth.Thegovernor and legislature have tofind a way to raise revenues.”Delegate and AFT Local 2121

president Ed Murray noted,“Our local sent many first-timeconvention-goers.A good num-ber of them were impressed bythe resolution floor debates,and they described them asenlightening, entertaining,and dramatic.”One resolution opposed sus-

pension of Proposition 98, andanother called on the legislatureto craft a bill that would “gener-ate and allocate sufficient fundsto education, up to or beyondthe national average, that willsupport academic success forall students.”Among other resolutions

passed during the weekend wereCFT bylaws changes that slightlyraised per capitas, and established

a Militancy Fund, which willsupport the defense of peoplewho have been targeted forretaliation by employers as aresult of their CFT union activi-ties or organizing.Some resolutions directly

addressed education policy, andothers spoke to broader socialconcerns. In education policy,the delegates voted for strength-ening the state commitment toCareerTechnical Education, andapproved a position paper clari-fying CFT's position on studentassessment, among others.The delegates also passed

approval of HR 676 (a nationalsingle payer bill sponsored byJohn Conyers), opposition toschool appearances by Immigra-tion Control and Enforcement(ICE), reiteration of CFT oppo-sition to the war in Iraq, andsupport for a national K-12labor education task forceand conference.

Presentations well receivedKeynote speaker Gray

Brechin, who leads a project tocatalog the work of FranklinRoosevelt's New Deal, presentedan impressive slide show aboutthe enduring importance ofgovernment programs inAmerican life, and the necessityto defend them against anti-government ideologues.Early childhood education

advocate and author DavidKirp discussed research demon-strating the importance of earlychildhood education to achild's success in school, andoutlined policy implications forthe delegates.A half dozen workshops

addressed issues of special inter-est to community college facul-ty, including such topics asconcurrent enrollment, parity forpart-time faculty, perspectives onadult education, a community

college faculty legal update, anda discussion of academic freedom.CCC president Carl Friedlan-

der oversaw the Council meet-ing on Friday night. One topicgenerating the most discussionwas a proposal to explore thepossibility of merger with theCommunity College Associationof the CaliforniaTeachers Asso-ciation. Reassured that the con-versation with the CCA wouldbe exhaustive, the body passedthe proposal to move forwardwith it.Delegate Jim Mahler from San

Diego City College was happywith the weekend’s events. Hetold the Perspective,“I reallyenjoyed our first conventionwith Marty Hittelman and Den-nis Smith as our new Presidentand Secretary-Treasurer. I feela renewed confidence in theCFT thanks to their strengthand leadership.”For final convention

resolutions, go tohttp://www.cft.org/home_news/cftconv08.html

By Fred Glass CCC president Carl Friedlander and CFT Legislative Director JudithMichaels flank CCC Northern vice-president Dean Murakami, who isdescribing legislative program during the convention CCC meeting.

Velma Butler, delegate from AFT Local 1521A, participates in floordebate on resolutions at CFT convention.

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The sixty-sixth annual California Federation ofTeachers Convention was heldApril 11-13 in Oakland,with the theme "We do the work, and we vote." Beneath a cloud of state budget cuts and economicrecession, hundreds of delegates from across the state met in the highest decision-making body of the

statewide organization.

“Our local sent many first-time convention-goers. A

good number of them were impressed by the

resolution floor debates, and they described them as

enlightening, entertaining, and dramatic.”

CFT Convention calls for fair tax policiesto address state budget problems

AFT Local 1521 delegate John McDowell discusses CCA/CCC merger talks proposal.

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6 PERSPECTIVE May 2008

LEGISLATION

Early this year, along with hiscuts-only budget for 2008-09,the governor declared a fiscalemergency, asking for reductionsthis fiscal year.The legislaturecurtailed the budget by $400million, keeping those cuts as faraway from the classroom as pos-sible. Governor Schwarzeneggercontinues to propose suspendingProposition 98, a Constitutionalamendment approved by votersin 1988 that established a mini-mum funding level for K-12schools and community colleges.Suspending Proposition 98 putsthe entire K-14 funding systemat risk for many years to come.But the property tax shortfall

will cause community collegesto reduce their budgets this yearunless a backfill can be secured.

Assemblyman Eng to the rescueAssemblyman Mike Eng, a

part-time community collegeinstructor and member of theLos Angeles College FacultyGuild,AFT 1521, understoodthe urgency to address this defi-ciency and how dire the conse-quences would be for ourstudents if we did not.Therefore,he amended one of his bills,AB2277, to back fill this year'sproperty tax shortfall.After all,community college districts hadincluded these estimated property

tax revenues in their currentbudgets. If the state does notprovide a general fund backfill,the property tax shortfall repre-sents an additional mid-year cutto instructional and student ser-vices this school year.

Developing the local agendaBudget deliberations may con-

tinue well past the Constitution-al deadline this year; bills may beamended abruptly and die sud-den deaths.Moving our agendathrough the legislature duringthis year of austerity will be par-ticularly difficult, but local advo-cacy will help turn the tide.California's Senate has alreadyset a limit of $50,000, statewide,for the cost of any bill.We hopeto move ACR 91 (Mendoza and

others), the Faculty and CollegeExcellence Act, through the leg-islature, since it signals intent,does not constitute a mandate,and does not need to be signedby the governor.We don't seemajor cost issues for AB 591(Dymally) and AB 1916 (Por-tantino), the revision of the 60percent law, but others may dis-agree. And coming up with themoney to fund AB 2277 will bechallenging. Passage of AB 2277,or an alternative budget fix, isvital to the education of the over2.6 million students currentlyenrolled in our community col-lege.We've worked to mitigatecosts for AB 1676 (Negrete-McLeod), a re-introduction ofEvaluation of Personnel Com-mission Directors, and hope to

move that through the Senate,on to the Assembly, and to thegovernor this session.

The revenue side:spring into action for summerThe legislature cannot address a

budget shortfall of this magnitudethrough cuts alone. Progressivetaxation could raise an estimated$13 billion per year, essentiallysolving the state's structural bud-get problem.However, because ofProposition 13, any tax increasemust be approved by a superma-jority of 2/3 in the state legisla-ture. Proposition 13, passed as aConstitutional Amendment in1978, builds in inequitiesbetween residential and commer-cial taxation, and, depending onwhen a homeowner buys ahouse, inequities among home-owners as well. Each year a smallminority of legislators, opposedto tax increases on ideologicalgrounds, can block the will of themajority and prevent a balancedapproach to solving the budgetcrisis.We'll be gathering togetherin local district offices and inSacramento as spring gives wayto summer and we mobilizefor action.

Working the FloorJudith Michaels, CFT Legislative Director

More budget difficulties for community colleges emergedlast month when property tax revenues fell short of esti-mates, an $80 million shortfall. By April 21, the shortfall

projection had jumped to $109 million. The state allocates moneyfrom the general fund to ‘backfill’ any property tax shortfall for K-12, since attending fourth grade is required for all Californians inthat age cohort. But the state does not require those over eighteen toattend college, and our institutions must seek legislative approval fora ‘backfill.’

Budget Woes Community college districts included these estimated

property tax revenues in their current budgets. If the

state does not provide a general fund backfill, the

property tax shortfall represents an additional mid-year

cut to instructional and student services this school year.

One of the main contributing factors has been thatmuch of the Proposition 98 budget is based on theDepartment of Finance’s (DOF) prediction of property taxrevenues for the coming year. When the DOF overesti-mates property tax revenues for the coming year the Statefinds that there is not enough money to support the edu-cation budget it passed the previous year.Therefore, thelegislature and governor have to find other funds,makecuts, or think about (God forbid!) raising revenues.K-12 has legal provisions in which the legislature must

automatically make up the property tax shortfall in its bud-get from the General Fund. This is called the “property taxbackfill.” The community college system is not protectedfrom mistakes made by the DOF. Each time there is aproperty tax shortfall the community colleges have tolobby for legislation to backfill the deficit.This year it will take massive advocacy pressure to get

the legislature to pass and the governor to sign a propertytax backfill bill. There are two reasons for this. First,wehave a serious budget deficit. Second, the DOF made aTitanic-sized overestimate of property tax revenues for thisyear. From the table below (State Chancellor’s Office) youcan see the huge deficit so far for this year relative to previ-ous years. The accumulated shortage in property taxes isnot done, property tax revenues continually come up short.As we move through the rest of this fiscal year, the taxshortfall may get worse [It already has, from $80 million atthe time this article was written, to April 21,when the new

projection became $109 million—Ed.].How did the DOF overestimate property tax revenue by

so much? Could it have been the housing crisis, decliningeconomy,or an overoptimistic prediction in order to tech-nically balance the budget and not deal with the harsh reali-ties of structural flaws in the state tax and budget system?No matter. When you ask most legislators about a com-

munity college property tax backfill for this year there isonly silence. Our praises go toAssembly member MikeEng who has taken the community college property taxbackfill legislation (AB 2277) for this year to the AssemblyHigher Ed Committee. With support from the facultyunions and many other stakeholder groups AB 2277 passedthe committee. NowAB 2277 is in the Assembly Appro-priations Committee and we need everyone’s help to get itthrough the next stage.

ConsequencesWhat are the consequences if AB 2277 fails to get

throughAppropriations and there is no property backfillfor this year? If the state does not provide a general fundbackfill, the property tax shortfall represents an additionallate-year cut to instructional and student services in thecurrent year. This is especially difficult when we are soclose to the end of the fiscal year.Appropriate planning andbudgeting by community college districts cannot beaccommodated without seriously reducing classes, studentservices, and/or reducing the numbers of part-time faculty

and classified staff. We need to pass AB 2277 so that ourcommunity college students have the opportunity to besuccessful. We must make every effort not to let themdown. However, this budget situation also underscores thefact that community colleges need a permanent propertytax backfill.We need to send our state legislators a high volume of

mail, faxes, emails, phone calls, and visits so AB 2277 canhave a chance to pass out of Appropriations or for the issueto be resolved in some other way. Write a letter in supportof AB 2277 to Mark Leno,Chair of the AppropriationsCommittee, and to and your local legislators today! Thenlet’s work on getting community colleges a permanentproperty tax provision.

By Dean Murakami

Many of us have become complacent about education funding because we are protected by Proposition 98.But, suddenly we are in a budget deficit quagmire, facing possible suspension of Proposition 98, and asevere funding shortage to education. How did this happen?

We need a permanent solution to a persistent problemProperty tax backfill addressed by AB 2277s

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This budget situation underscores the fact that

community colleges need a permanent

property tax backfill.

PROPERTY TAX SHORTFALLSYEAR BACKFILL

2003-04 $1,677,0002004-05 $22,538,0002005-06 $1,836,0002006-07 $164,0002007-08 $80,000,000

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May 2008 PERSPECTIVE 7

BOOK REVIEW

It succeeds in both goals.Thebooklet begins with a history ofunemployment insurance, provid-ing a helpful overview of the rea-sons for the ambiguous status oftemporary, contingent faculty.There are six to seven hundredthousand non-tenure track col-lege teachers who should be eli-gible for unemployment whenthey are out of work betweensemesters. Sadly,many of themare unaware of their eligibility forthese benefits. Others fear thatapplying for benefits mightadversely affect their professionalfuture. Colleges have a financialincentive to fight against award-ing unemployment compensa-tion, and the individual teacheris likely to be intimidated bythe complex, often arcaneprocess of applying for andsecuring benefits.The authors provide practical

advice on how to apply with thebest chance of securing benefits.This ambitious section will be ofthe greatest benefit to those out-side of California. The procedurein California is much simpler.While there is much goodadvice, I found this section to beawkwardly written and some-times confusing.This publication provides sug-

gestions on how faculty and theirorganizations in other states maywork to achieve the kind of ben-efits enjoyed by California con-tingent faculty. This is anexcellent idea. In California,

temporary faculty now enjoyroutine access to unemploymentbenefits when they are betweenjobs. It was largely due to theheroic efforts of AFT 2121 (SanFrancisco Community CollegeDistrict) that the precedent-set-ting Cervisi case was establishedin 1989. “Cervisi” showed thatCalifornia temporary collegeteachers with offers of futureemployment contingent onenrollment, funding and programchanges did not have “reasonableassurance” of re-employment,and were thus eligible forunemployment benefits.

The situation in other states isless clear.Unemployment benefitsare mandated by Federal law, butimplemented differently in eachstate. In too many states courts orlegislatures have decided thatcontingent faculty with offers ofemployment for the followingsemester or term do have reason-able assurance, even if the offersare contingent on enrollment,

funding or other factors such asthe needs of tenured instructorsfor a full-time teaching load. Thebooklet concludes with anAppendix summarizing the expe-riences of contingent faculty inten states.AFT 2121 was successful in

California because the unionactively encouraged its membersto apply for unemployment bene-fits at a time when those benefitswere far from assured, and duringa time when case law was againstmost claimants. I was one of thoseclaimants. We were advised to fileall claims in the same office.

When we were denied benefitsAFT 2121 arranged to have ourappeals heard as a group and theunion represented us at thoseappeal hearings. In those days, theAdministrative Law Judges wouldseldom grant us benefits becauseof an earlier precedent decision(Russ v.CUIAB) in which ateacher’s aide working in a ruralarea was denied benefits because

she had an offer,even thoughthat offer wascontingent onfunding.Fortunately,

the Californialegislature hadattempted todefine the term“Reasonable Assur-ance” in the California Unem-ployment insurance code 1253.3.However, that definition wasrather poorly written, includingdouble-negatives, which leftinterpretation of the definitionwide open. The law states thatreasonable assurance “includes,but is not limited to, an offer ofemployment which is not contin-gent on enrollment, funding andprogram changes.”Eventually the State Court of

Appeals found that the definitionactually meant that contingentoffers or assignments do not con-stitute “reasonable assurance.”Thisprinciple was established inCervisi v. California Unemploy-ment Insurance Appeals Board(1989) 208 Cal.App.3ed 635.Under Cervisi, an assignmentcontingent on enrollment, fund-ing, or program changes is not a“reasonable assurance” ofemployment (1253.3, subd.(g).)I agree with the authors of this

booklet that faculty outside ofCalifornia need to organize at alllevels to get unemployment bene-fits for contingent college teachers.

With colleges relying more andmore on contingent faculty, this isan important benefit that shouldbe clearly established in case lawbeyond California.This bookletwill be a good start towards thegoal of uniform treatment of con-tingent faculty throughout theUnited States.I recommend this publication

to all contingent faculty outsideof California who are seeking tolearn more about unemploymentand how to get it. However, I donot think California faculty willbe helped by it very much. Cali-fornia faculty will do much bet-ter following advice morespecifically directed toward themsuch as the “Community CollegePart-time Faculty Unemploy-ment Compensation Handbook”by Robert J. Bezemek(http://www.cpfa.org/bezemek.html).Order “Access to Unemploy-

ment Insurance Benefits” fromhttp://www.chicagococal.org/, $5 plus $2 shipping, oryou can download a PDF versionfor free.

“Cervisi” showed that California temporary college

teachers with offers of future employment contingent on

enrollment, funding and program changes did not have

“reasonable assurance” of re-employment, and were

thus eligible for unemployment benefits.

Access to Unemployment InsuranceBenefits for Contingent FacultyA manual for applicants and a strategy to gain full rights to benefits

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was perfectly legal, so the teacherdidn’t do anything for a year.The he came to me, and we fileda grievance, showing that the dis-trict had violated the mandatorydates for evaluations. PERBruled that the district board candecide whether or not to followits own policy, and a SuperiorCourt judge upheld that deci-sion, even wagging his finger inthe face of our lawyer, BobBezemek. But the State Courtof Appeals overturned that, and

granted the first job protectionfor first-year teachers.”“At the time, it really affected a

lot of people who had very fewrights,” he emphasizes. “We gothim $50,000, a lot of money inthose days.”Other grievances have high-

lighted basic issues of instructors’rights. In one, a faculty advisorto a Latino campus organizationwas reassigned to the administra-tion building after a demonstra-tion demanding improved

services for Latino students.After the union filed a grievancechallenging the reassignment, anarbitrator ordered the administra-tion to place her back in heroriginal position.Kirk is still doing grievances,

with five headed toward arbitra-tion, but he’s winding down; hewill retire at the end of thespring semester. “We have abunch of new deans, who thinkthey can reinterpret the contract.Our chancellor is a former

accountant, and our new presi-dent taught accounting, so theyhave no conception of what auniversity or college really is, andtry to manage it like a corpora-tion. Fortunately, we have a lotof support from the faculty, and avery active membership.”In looking back over the past

three decades he sees, naturally, alesson for new faculty. “Theunion merely defends the con-tract and due process rights.Sometimes we get criticized for

representing “bad teachers.” Thatreally bristles me big time. We’redefending people’s right to dueprocess. It’s easy to take rightsaway from someone who’sunpopular. But that’s the firststep to taking rights away fromeveryone. I’m defending mewhen I’m defending them.”

By David Bacon

San Mateo’s John Kirkcontinued from page 3

This booklet has two major goals:To assist and encourage individual contingent faculty members to file for unemploymentinsurance benefits and to counsel them about how to go about doing that with the greatest probability of getting thosebenefits; and to suggest a strategy for faculty organizations and their allies at the local, state, and national levels to change

the system so that contingent faculty can easily access unemployment benefits when they are between semesters.

Reviewed by Joseph Morlan

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By Joe Berry, Beverly Stewart, and Helena Worthen. Chicago Coalition on Contingent Academic Labor with the help of NEA, AAUP,and AFT.

8 PERSPECTIVE May 2008

PalomarPalomar pushes backagainst takeawaysAfter fifteen months in stalled

negotiations, Palomar Collegefaculty were shocked whenadministrators began negotiatingbackwards. But they rallied, tookeffective steps to break the dead-lock, and in the end substantiallybettered their contract.Because negotiations dragged

on for so long, the union wonimprovements, not just for thecurrent year, but for the two pre-vious years. In May of 2007, thedistrict offered no more than the2006-2007 5.92% COLA,whichinstructors had already receivedthe previous December. In thenew agreement, the Palomar Fac-ulty Federation was able to nego-tiate over a million dollars ofadditional salary enhancementsfor 2006-2007 and additionalsubstantial enhancements for2007-2008 and 2008-2009.According to Shannon Lienhart,co-president of AFL Local 6161,“these gains were very significant,especially considering the currentbudget situation in California.”

Harder to be positiveIt was harder to be that posi-

tive a year before, however. “Wewere in real trouble,” Lienhartremembers. “They were runningright over us. When they camein with takeaways after fifteenmonths at the table, we knewwe’d have to start a campaign.”Four EMT instructors, for

instance, had historically beengiven district cellphones, sincethey had to be on call 24 hours aday, 7 days a week. The districttook the phones away. Since1993 faculty and staff had beenable to visit the nurse in HumanServices without charge. Admin-istrators unilaterally beganimposing a $10 fee.“The vice-president for

Human Relations, JohnTortaro-lo, was acting as a maverick,”Lienhart adds,“investigating fac-ulty for no reason, confiscatingtheir computers so that he couldlook through their electroniccommunications.” WhenTor-tarolo was challenged on a pro-posal to violate the 60% load law,and asked to provide some legaljustification for it, he told theunion he didn’t have to. He thensaid he didn’t have to provide anyjustification for denying somefaculty members leave timeneeded to manage theireducational programs.

Calling AFTThe union called the national

AFT and got the help of ConnieMcKenna, an AFT field writer.They found ample campaignmaterial in the district’s ownactions. Two million dollars hadbeen transferred out of the gen-eral fund without board approval.High level and highly paidadministrative consultants werehired without the actions appear-ing on the board’s agenda.Administrators working part-time were paid on a secret salaryschedule that was much higherthan the pay received by facultydoing the same jobs.“That really got us angry. The

number of full-time faculty herehas plummeted, and we’re nowin the 20th percentile in terms ofthe full-time/part-time ratio. Sothe college was funding itself onthe back of part-timers, whileadministrators paid themselvessecret salaries,” Lienhart says.Palomar College, located innorth San Diego County,employs about 300 full-timefaculty, and 900 part-timers.

Talking to the pressWith the help of McKenna, the

union began exposing illegal andfinancially questionable actions.Unfair labor practice charges werefiled over the unilateral changes inconditions, and a PERB adminis-trative law judge found that thedistrict had “failed and refused tobargain in good faith” over the feefor visiting the nurse. The unionbegan a newsletter, theWatchdog,and members started talking tothe press.“Connie’s professionalism, the

way she helped us frame theissues, really signaled to theadministration we were seriousabout mounting a campaign thatwould expose the corruption andmalfeasance on campus,” recallsLienhart. “This informationmade its way to the local newspa-pers, and we started to get a lotof attention in the community.”Even the accreditation process

for the college began to lookshaky. Community colleges aresupposed to evaluate themselves ayear before the formal accredita-tion process begins, and arerequired to include people fromall aspects of campus life. AtPalomar, thirteen of the eighteenfaculty members involved in theself-evaluation resigned in protest.

Challenge brings change“The accreditation process

itself could have come to astandstill,” says Lienhart. “The

administration felt they could dowhatever they wanted. When wechallenged them,we made themrealize we’re not afraid to flexour own muscles to get what’srightfully ours. And in the endthey changed course.”

Foot in the doorThe contract agreement won

not just salary increases, but alsogot a “foot in the door” forpreparation pay for part-time andfull-time overload instructionalfaculty (an hour’s pay). The part-time faculty hourly schedule wassplit into instructional and non-instructional matrices. Instruc-tors then got a 77¢ hourlyincrease retroactive to July 1,2006. That cost the district$300,000.The PFF enhanced the starting

salary for the first four rows onthe 10- and 11-month salaryschedules, and won a $1200 doc-toral stipend for all full-timesalary schedules. Both were alsoretroactive to 2006.Finally, the district was forced

to agree that on top of COLA,all faculty schedules would get a1.58% retroactive raise, costing$750,000. For the 07-08 and08-09 years, 40% of any newfunding received by the districtfor increased enrollment willhave to go to faculty, which maylead to a .75% raise.In one of the most significant

non-economic achievements,PFF won an appeal process forevaluations, in which facultywho receive poor ones canappeal to another body. Theneed for this was highlightedwhen a fourth-year facultymember at the end of his proba-tion was not granted tenure. Anadministrative law judge ruled inhis favor, but the district’s gov-erning board still refused, andthen spent a lot of money chal-lenging the ruling. “It all could

have been resolved if we’d hadan appeal process at the time,”Lienhart says.

By David Bacon

San DiegoNew contracts equalgains for faculty andclassified“Our overarching goals in

bargaining,” explains Jim Mahler,president of the San Diego Com-munity College Guild,AFTLocal 1931,“was to get anexpanded salary schedule, so thatpeople didn’t get stuck after twosteps. We made significantprogress. In each round of bar-gaining we chip away at it.”On the faculty contract sched-

ule A, the percentage betweenfive of the top steps will beincreased from the current 1.00%to 2.75%, putting these steps inline with the rest of the salaryschedule. “Our focus,” he says,“was to increase the percentagebetween the steps which werelower than 2.75%, thus ensuringequitable future increases for allcontract faculty.”Entry step D was eliminated,

and all faculty on that step wereautomatically moved to step E.Faculty on overload schedules Band C will get an across-the-board 3% increase. At the sametime, the fund for adjunct officehours was increased by $100,000(or by a third), bringing thehourly rate to $20-25.The adjunct faculty health ben-

efits program will continue to befully funded with complete medi-cal, dental, and vision coverage forthe employee and dependents.The number of assigned work-week hours for non-classroom

faculty was permanently reducedfrom 34 to 33.One new contractnon-classroom faculty memberwill be hired at City,Mesa,Mira-mar, and Continuing Education(four positions total).The Guild also represents clas-

sified employees, and reached aseparate agreement for them.“After several months of strug-gle,” Mahler says,“we were finallyable to win an excellent packageof improvements for theoffice/technical unit.”Included in the new agreement

are salary schedule enhancementsand beneficial changes in overtimerules.Compensation for promo-tions and long term out of classassignments was doubled to 10%,as was the life insurance benefit(from $25,000 to $50,000.)Retiree benefits will now includedental and vision,with earlyretirement options.Bereavementleave has been improved.Robin Martindill, a union

vice-president at Mesa Collegeand member of the bargainingteam,was especially proud of twonew provisions.“This is reallyunique for classified employees,”she told the Perspective. Two com-mittees, appointed by classifiedunion officers, now oversee fundsfor a fully paid six-month Profes-sional Study Leave Program,withtuition reimbursement up to$2500 maximum, and a $25,000travel and conference budget.Mahler praised classified mem-

bers for “hanging tough,” and notsettling for early, unsatisfactoryoffers from the district. Mar-tindill concurs: “I’m very pleasedwith what we ended up with.”

By David Bacon

ActionLocal

JimMahler, delegate fromSanDiegoCommunity CollegeGuild, AFTLocal 1931, rises tomake apoint during discussionof resolutions atannual CFT convention, held inApril inOakland. See story page 5.

FREDG

LASS,PH

OTO

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change my assignment.Shortly after this incidentshe took a new administra-tive position at another col-lege in California as farremoved as possible fromour campus.Without John I would

have been defenseless againstthis abusive treatment. Eventhough I had been a found-ing member of our local,this experience motivatedme to step into a moreactive role with our union.This true story represents

only one of many times thatJohn has “stood up” for fac-ulty rights. I have knownJohn since the founding ofLocal 1493 and have seenhim fearlessly confront pooradministrative decision-making and abusive treat-ment of faculty on manyoccasions. Literally hundredsof faculty members, throughthe years, owe a debt ofgratitude to John for hissupport and advocacy.

John Kirk “Stands Up”continued from page 3

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