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Amounts of Refund by Plan and Hire Date.xlsx (12 KB)

From: John Fetcho <jfetcho@cuesta.edu>
Date: Dec 13, 2011 3:14 PM
Subject: Benefits Refund
To: CCCUE Local 4606 <CCCUELocal4606@cuesta.edu>

Good afternoon everyone.

At last Thursday’s General Membership meeting, I shared with you the fact that you will be seeing a refund on your benefits coming in your December paycheck. Here is the spreadsheet that will show you just how much you will get back. I would like to thank Peppe Rose for working on this for us.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

In Solidarity,

John Fetcho

President, CCCUE

Local 4606

December 13, 2011

As you may have heard, the governor announced today his mid-year cut scenario for the current year. As expected, community colleges will take a $102 million mid-year cut, effective January. Additionally the community college per-unit credit fee will increase to $46, effective summer 2012.

Specifically, $30 million will be treated as a one-time deficit, and $72 million will be permanently reduced--spread across each district's apportionment as yet another workload reduction. That means permanent reduction in access to courses for our students.

<http://www.ccleague.net/updates/gfrevenues-201112.png> The only surprise in today's announcement was that the governor decided to minimize the cut to K-12 schools. Instead of the $1.35 billion cut projected by the Legislative Analyst's Office, the governor will only cut K-12 budgets by $327.6 million--$248 million from home-to-school transportation and $79.6 million from general per-student funding.

As reflected in the chart above, the Department of Finance projects that revenues will be $1.6 billion higher than projected by the Legislative Analyst's Office <http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2011/bud/fiscal_outlook/fiscal_outlook_2011.aspx> on November 16 (and thus $2.2 billion below the Budget Act). While this was sufficient to "pull" both triggers completely, the governor decided to shield K-12 schools from the largest cut--over $1 billion in general revenue. With language approved by the Legislature in the final moments of the budget debate that limited the ability of K-12 schools to realize any actual savings in the current year, many school districts argued this was just an unallocated cut.

Of course, this leaves community colleges with a significant (nearly 2%) cut in the current year, offset only by the increased student fee revenues from summer 2012 that might be attributed to the 2011-12 fiscal year. Additionally, I have significant concerns that jumping from $26/unit to $46/unit in under a year may dissuade students from continuing their education, even considering California's continuing national lead in low fees.

Clearly, K-12 was protected, and there are both political and policy reasons for the decision. The fact is that the state needs more revenue--for higher education, for health and human services, and for public safety. According to the Public Policy Institute of California's poll released today <http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=1005> , California's voters want to see more revenue specifically dedicated to education. We are heartened that the governor's plan would fund K-12 and community colleges, and look forward to the details explaining the restoration of funding to community colleges.

The League will likely be a strong advocate for reasonable increased revenues for education and other public services. We anticipate the governor's January 10 budget, which will explain where the nearly $7 billion in increased revenues will be spent if the voters agree to new revenues. In this round, K-12 was protected, which was likely reasonable, but we can not ignore the price to California from the continued disinvestment from higher education.

As advocates for an accessible, affordable and equitable higher education for all Californians, we look forward to the governor's plan in January.

Sincerely,
<http://www.ccleague.org/images/scott.jpg>
Scott Lay
President and Chief Executive Officer, The League
Orange Coast College '94

December 12, 2011

In the news:

We wanted to share what we’re reading. The purpose of Today’s News is to disseminate throughout the system media accounts about the California Community Colleges and related issues.

California’s financial forecast this week will have real-world consequences

The Sacramento Bee (daily newspaper)

Published: Monday, December 12, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/12/4116082/californias-financial-forecast.html> )

California braces for more budget slashing with possible ‘trigger’ cuts

The San Jose Mercury News (daily newspaper)

Published: Sunday, December 11, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19525841> )

California’s glut of tax-hike initiatives

The Los Angeles Times – op-ed (national daily newspaper)

Published: Monday, December 12, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-1212-meyerson-too-many-c...> )

Governor steps out of limelight to work on budget

The San Francisco Chronicle (daily newspaper)

Published: Monday, December 12, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/11/MNHT1MAACA.DTL> )

Cal State campuses overwhelmed by remedial needs

The Contra Costa Times (local daily newspaper)

Published: Sunday, December 11, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19526032> )

Let’s make textbooks affordable

The Los Angeles Times – column (national daily newspaper)

Published: Monday, December 12, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-me-cap-textbooks-20111212,0,1727080... )

High price for higher education: CPA tries to teach parents tools to pay for child’s tuition

The Santa Cruz Sentinel (local daily newspaper)

Published: Sunday, December 11, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_19525723?source=most_viewed> )

For community colleges, a time to shine

The Chronicle of Higher Education – opinion (education trade periodical)

Published: Sunday, December 11, 2011 | (Link to story <http://chronicle.com/article/For-Community-Colleges-a-Time/130064/> )

Graduation-rates campaign heads to Dallas

The Texas Tribune (Texas nonprofit policy and politics news publication)

Published: Friday, December 9, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/higher-education/graduation-rates...> )

At Forum on the Future, leaders dissect what ails higher education today

The Chronicle of Higher Education (education trade periodical)

Published: Monday, December 12, 2011 | (Link to story <http://chronicle.com/article/At-Forum-on-the-Future/130087/> )

Current crop of California college grads can’t find jobs they want

The Sacramento Bee (daily newspaper)

Published: Sunday, December 11, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/11/4114705/current-crop-of-california-college.h...%20Stories> )

Silicon Beach: Real or high-tech hype?

The Los Angeles Times (national daily newspaper)

Published: Sunday, December 11, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cover-la-tech-20111211,0,7901017.story> )

Dan Walters: Legal traps could stop California’s high-speed rail project

The Sacramento Bee - column (daily newspaper)

Published: Monday, December 12, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/12/4115979/dan-walters-legal-traps-could.html#m...%20Walters> )

Berkeley’s Occupy camp thrives, unthreatened

The San Francisco Chronicle (daily newspaper)

Published: Monday, December 12, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/11/BANK1MAB77.DTL&feed=rss.news> )

In California, a plan to charge inmates for their stay

The New York Times (national daily newspaper)

Published: Sunday, December 11, 2011 | (Link to story <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/us/in-riverside-california-a-plan-to-charge... )

FINGERS CROSSED FOR SANTA BARBARA CITY COLLEGE…

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College up for $1 million prize

The Mississippi Press (Mississippi news website)

Published: Monday, December 12, 2011 | (Link to story <http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2011/12/mississippi_gulf_coas...> )

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October 20, 2011

California spends billions on community college students who drop out.

Huh?

That was the headline that greeted me in the Los Angeles Times at 4:45 this morning. I immediately brewed another pot of coffee, as it forecasted a pretty long day. I'm guessing a few of you also had a bit of pre-breakfast appetite loss.

The first paragraph didn't comfort me any further:

California and other states are spending billions of tax dollars on community college students who drop out before completing their studies, according to a report released Thursday.

In 2009-10, California spent about $5.9 billion on community colleges (state general fund and local property taxes), so "billions" is a lot of to spend on drop outs.

However, this is a classic case of good research spun for political purposes and to grab readers, rather than rational policy thought. Upon reading further down in the story, I found this paragraph:

In California, expenditures on such students over the five-year period totaled $480 million, far more than any other state.

Oh, that would have been nice to put in the headline, or in the lede. So, going from "California spends billions" (inferentionally in one year), we're now down to $480 million over a five-year period. Specifically, the report from the American Institutes of Research, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, found that $130 million in state funds were spent on students who didn't persist after their first year.

So, from "billions" of a $5.9 billion budget, we're now down to $130 million, or 2.5%. And, as the authors of the study recognize, not all of these are dropouts who left without some benefit. I don't want to point fingers at other segments, but UC and CSU have a lot of dropouts as well, and they receive far more funding per student.

As we have talked about over the last couple of years, there is no doubt that we could do a better job helping our students achieve their academic dreams. We need to do a better job ensuring students have the knowledge, guidance and support to persist through to reach their goals--whether transfer, a certificate or degree, or skills needed in a very competitive workforce.

Meanwhile, question the headlines.

Sincerely,

Scott Lay
President and Chief Executive Officer, The League
Orange Coast College '94

September 27, 2011

In the news:

We wanted to share what we’re reading.  The purpose of Today’s News is to disseminate throughout the system media accounts about the California Community Colleges and related issues. 

Community colleges get $20 million for job training

Thoughts on Public Education (education trade periodical)

Published:  Tuesday, September 27, 2011 | (Link to story)

Winners and losers

Inside Higher Ed (education trade periodical)

Published:  Tuesday, September 27, 2011 | (Link to story)

College district gets $5 million to train students for health jobs

In the news:

We wanted to share what we’re reading.  The purpose of Today’s News is to disseminate throughout the system media accounts about the California Community Colleges and related issues. 

Jerry Brown rips Republicans, says Jarvis Group is their jockey

The Sacramento Bee (daily newspaper)

Published:  Thursday, September 15, 2011 | (Link to story)

Calif. Treasurer wants to maintain automatic cuts

The Associated Press (national news agency)

Published:  Wednesday, September 14, 2011 | (Link to story)

East County college district adopts lean budget

The San Diego Union-Tribune (daily newspaper)

Published:  Wednesday, September 14, 2011 | (Link to story)

COC trustees OK budget for 2011-‘12

The Santa Clarita Valley Signal (local daily newspaper)

Published:  Wednesday, September 14, 2011 | (

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