by Conrad Scott-Curtis
By now, it is widely understood on campus that Cabrillo salaries took a real hit, relative to other community-college salaries in the Bay Area and the nearby region, between 2004-05 and 2008-2009. (By one measure, contract salaries fell during that period from 17th to 51st in the state, out of 72 districts.) As CCFT and the District complete our current study of salary comparisons between Cabrillo and nearby schools, it is becoming apparent that that picture does not change substantially when we take into account the cost of medical benefits. We will wrap up that study and be ready to share it with the college community by the end of March.
The question, of course, is “Where do we go from here?” One problem we might point to is that things tend to fall faster than they rise. (One of my best friends is from North Carolina, where his grandfather was a carpenter. He tells a story of a day his grandpa fell off a roof he was working on. The homeowner looked out the window to see him plummet past, stand up, and head back to the house. As he passed her, he mentioned, “You can dock me for the time I take gettin’ back up there, but I didn’t take no time comin’ down.”) However, the relative rates at which things—natural and otherwise—rise and fall, shouldn’t keep us, or the District, from defining where we think Cabrillo salaries ought to be, given the quality of the school and faculty we want to maintain, the school’s long-term goals, and, not least, the cost of living in Santa Cruz County. One web resource puts the cost of living in the Santa-Cruz – Watsonville area second in the state, behind only the Orange County Metro Area (startclass.com: “Cost of Living in California”).
Another problem we might take into account is the difference between agreeing about what Cabrillo’s relative salary in the state ought to be and actually getting there. One nearby school, Gavilan, has actually written into its contract a goal for relative salary standing. I am not advocating this approach, necessarily, but it is true that Gavilan’s salaries are about 5-6% higher than Cabrillo’s, depending on step and column placements, as we will show in our upcoming regional salary comparison.
As we as a union work to make salary advancements, we also have to look at the specific circumstances of our college, including the District’s strategies for navigating any budget shoals likely to be encountered over the next few years. Currently, Cabrillo is looking at a much smaller deficit than anticipated for this year, and a balanced budget for next year. The 2016-17 picture looks less bright, with the District anticipating losing almost 400 FTES (and about $2 million from base budget). While the challenges of a possible lower enrollment are real, it’s also the case that the District is proposing to take approximately $500,000 in unanticipated revenue from the current year and apply the amount to increase the college’s General Reserve from the state mandated minimum of 5% of budget to 6%, a move that CCFT sees as unnecessary.
This spring, and over the next few years, CCFT will monitor the budget picture carefully, including calling in a budget specialist from the state union, and work to place faculty salaries squarely in the center of conversations about budgetary priorities. This monitoring includes keeping close track of the share of overall base budget revenues that go to faculty salaries. (That percentage has fallen by about 6% since the Fiscal Year 02-03.)
CCFT Leadership will depend on input from faculty (including conversation, surveys, and discussion with CCFT Council Reps) to develop goals and timing to meet goals.
CCFT also continues to lead statewide in discussions of the need to modify repeatability guidelines, and we will be present at the State Faculty Senate Plenary this spring as that body looks at unintended consequences of the guidelines and discuss the senate’s own advocacy position. And we will continue to work at the state level for budget priorities that benefit education of our students in all ways, including maintaining a strong faculty that sees it is valued and appreciated by its district.