Monthly Archives: March 2014

DART planning two events


Retirees

 

DART planning two events for retirees & faculty


by John Searle, DART President


The District Association of Retired Teachers (commonly referred to as DART) is planning two events for the coming six months. We invite current faculty as well as retired faculty to join us for these events.

The first is a hike in the Peninsula Watershed area, which has limited access controlled by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The scheduled time is for a Saturday, June 28. We are in the process of planning the details, but the routine requires that participants sign up ahead of time, providing their name and address. If you are interested, please contact John Searle by phone (650-595-4426) or by email  (Searle@my.smccd.edu). The maximum number of participants is 20! Personally, I think this activity is very special, and we are lucky to have the privilege of accessing the off-limits area. 

The second planned event is a sort of get-together with food and booze (sorry, liquid refreshments) provided, focusing on sharing our retirement experiences with each other, hoping to stimulate conversation, and maybe challenging one another for the coming year. A tentative date is September 21.

 

 

 

April 2014 Advocate – Legislature looking at CalSTRS shortfall


In the News

Legislature begins looking at how to deal with CalSTRS shortfall 

The California legislature has begun hearings on how to fix the $71 billion dollar funding shortfall for teacher pensions. Without an increase in contributions, CalSTRS predicts its assets will be depleted in about 30 years.

The CFT has formed an advisory committee that has begun analyzing the issues facing CalSTRS solvency and at possible reasonable and equitable solutions.

Although CalSTRS investments grew at a rate of 13.8% in 2013, which increased their portfolio by about $550 million, there is general agreement that the gap cannot be bridged by investment returns alone.

The governor has called for a new CalSTRS plan that would be enacted in the 2015-16 fiscal year and phased in over several years.  A key question is how much each of the three CalSTRS contributors—teachers, school districts and the state–would increase their contributions. Currently teachers pay 8%, districts pay 8.25% and the state pays approximately 5%.

April 2014 Advocate – New bill would reform accreditation


IN THE NEWS

New assembly bill would reform accreditation process 

Assemblymember Rob Bonta has introduced AB 1942, a new bill sponsored by the CFT, that seeks to introduce transparency, due process, and accountability into the accreditation process for our colleges. Bonta described the four key components of the bill as follows:

• Introduces competition to the accreditation process: Allows community college districts to choose their accreditation agency.

• Restores transparency and accountability: Requires an accreditor to make decisions at a public hearing and requires public disclosure of income and expenditures of accreditors’ employees and contractors. Requires accreditation documents to be maintained for at least 10 years.

• Restores fairness to the accreditation process: Requires an accreditor to provide due process and notice to the public and colleges about evaluations and allows colleges to appeal decisions.

• Maintains integrity of the accreditation system: Eliminates potential conflicts of interest by accreditors. The integrity of the system is further ensured by requiring the accreditor to annually disclose to the public information regarding charges to member institutions, and fiscal data for the accreditor’s employees and contractors, including the source and amount of income and expenditures.

 

 

April 2014 Advocate – Adjuncts can still get flex pay


PART TIMERS

Part-time faculty can still get paid for flex activities

Part-time faculty have had questions about whether and how they can get compensated for professional development work they do for their Flex activity. If you were not able to attend any on-campus Flex activities on this semester’s three flex days, you can still complete a professional development activity and be paid provided that you complete the activity before the end of the semester and fill out the flex reporting form. 

Here’s how it works: Article 7.11.2 of our contract states that “part-time faculty members shall participate in flex activities as part of their basic assignments if the flex day falls on a scheduled workday.” The flex reporting form, found on the District Academic Senate’s website, says that:

“Post-retirement and hourly faculty who are scheduled to teach during the day on scheduled Flex Days may report Flex activities up to the total number of hours normally worked on that day(s) in order to receive compensation.  Those Flex activities may be conducted at any time during the year between June 1, 2013, and May 31, 2014, outside of regularly scheduled workdays.  Additional hours will not be compensated.  In addition to the reporting form, hourly faculty must submit a time sheet to their Division Dean in order to receive pay. Flex days for post retirement and hourly faculty MUST be reported during the semester in which they were observed but NO later than December 15th for Fall semester and June 15 for Spring Semester.”

The flex reporting form is available at: http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/smccd/committees/academicsenate/flexform.php 

If you have questions, please call the AFT 1493 office at x6491 or email: kaplan@aft1493.org.

April 2014 Advocate – AFT supports Prop. 13 reform


TAX REFORM & SCHOOL FUNDING

AFT 1493 supports reform of Proposition 13 to require large commercial property owners to pay their fair share

AFT Local 1493 recently passed a resolution that resolved that “the San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers supports efforts to modify how the value of commercial properties in California are reassessed to allow for more regular commercial property value reassessment” and “that tax revenues generated by modernizing how commercial property is reassessed benefit local schools and not accrue to the State of California as General Fund savings.” 

By passing this resolution, AFT 1493 has joined a growing coalition that has formed to reform Proposition 13, passed in 1978. Since that time the corporate loopholes in Proposition 13 have crippled California, decimated our education system, increased government gridlock, and created a massive handout to corporations. All of this has come at the expense of students, working families, and everyday homeowners. This new effort to reform Proposition 13 will maintain existing protections that are now provided to residential homeowners.

The plan to make Proposition 13 work for the people of California, without providing huge tax breaks for corporations is quite simple:

  • Establish regular reassessment of non-residential commercial property in California. Nearly everywhere else in the country regularly reassesses commercial property every 1-5 years. 
  • Maintain current Prop. 13 protections for all residential property. Homeowners, home renters, apartment owners, and apartment renters will not be affected by this reform.
  • Provide an exemption for small businesses. Large commercial property owners like Chevron and Disney Corporation are currently under-taxed by billions each year! These corporations would be affected by this reform, not small business owners. 
  • Implement this reform in a smart way. Some commercial properties have not been reassessed in 35 years, meaning they are still paying property taxes based on 1970s rates. Our reform would take this into account and gradually phase-in changes over time to make the transition as smooth as possible. 

disney-prop13-web

The average homeowner is paying 8 times what Disneyland pays in property taxes!
Voters passed Proposition 13 to protect your castle, not Sleeping Beauty’s castle!

 

This common sense reform will: 

  • Decrease the tax burden on working families. Prop. 13’s commercial property loophole forces our state, county, and municipal governments to raise funds in other ways. Today, California has the highest income and sales tax in the country, and local governments regularly ask voters to pass regressive parcel taxes to fund vital public services. 
  • Provide at least $6 billion a year of desperately needed revenue to our schools and public services. Prior to Proposition 13, California schools ranked in the top ten nationally in per pupil spending, today we rank 49th! Restoring funding to our schools is critical for the future of California and making corporations pay their fair share is the best way to do this.
  • Increase California’s fiscal stability. Increased reliance on more volatile forms of taxation, like income and sales tax is bad for our economy. The property tax is the most stable form of taxation, which is why it should be a greater source of revenue for state, county and municipal governments.
  • Make California’s property tax system fairer. In most counties, the property tax burden was equally shared prior to Proposition 13.  Since Prop. 13 passed, the property tax burden in California has dramatically shifted from commercial property to residential property. Today, homeowners pay 72% of property taxes, while commercial Properties only pay 28%. 
  • Create a healthier business climate in California. Prop. 13 is anti-competitive. If a new business buys property across the street from an established business that has owned their property for longer, they are at a competitive disadvantage.  Two identical businesses side by side can pay drastically different property tax rates based on when they purchased their property. This does not foster fair competition or encourage new business creation in California.

For more information, see evolve-ca.org.