Chancellor presents misleading information as excuse for unsustainable salary offers

At our District’s January 8, 2026, Flex Day, Chancellor Moreno presented conflicting news to her audience of employees:

“The District’s budget remains strong and balanced even as we navigate real economic uncertainty. …we must be honest about our financial realities. Together, we must do this work in a way that honors both our employees and the long-term fiscal stability of the district.”

Explaining that “our [County’s] assessed valuation, which is the core measure of our new revenue, has fallen below 3%,” she continued about COLAs (Cost of Living Adjustments): “COLA will be lower than in recent years. That’s the reality of today…And while I’m deeply sorry about these constraints, they are beyond our control.”^[1] The Chancellor’s comments echoed the same misinformation and inaccuracies that were presented in an October press release claiming “the District anticipates a significantly reduced county Assessed Valuation (AV) this year.”

The Chancellor’s remarks and District press release about our county’s assessed valuation and COLA have tried to make an argument that the District has a poorer financial outlook so they can’t afford to provide salary “increases at the same level as in recent years.”

District’s Assessed Property Valuation (AV) prediction is not supported by the evidence

Let’s look at the actual facts that the District is trying to deny or obscure. First, as a Basic Aid district^[2], SMCCCD’s revenues are directly based on our County’s assessed property valuations; they are not related to COLA. The annual property valuation is set each year on July 1, but assessed valuations are regularly updated on the County Assessor’s website as they increase through the year. Below, the current increase is shown as 3.1%. At this time last year, the increase was also only around 3%.^[3]

Current assessed valuation shown on the Assessor’s website on Feb. 2, 2026

However, because valuation numbers accumulate throughout the year, “unless the Chancellor believes it will remain at 0% for the next five months, the 2025-2026 valuation is likely to land in a similar range to last year when it grew to 4.8% by July 2025,” says CSM Economics professor/AFT Treasurer Steven Lehigh. Additionally, as the County Controller’s chart below illustrates, San Mateo County’s assessed property values (which determine the lion’s share of district’s revenues) have increased consistently for 10 consecutive years.

SM County’s assessed property values have increased consistently for 10 consecutive years

Lower salary increase would also increase salary disparities between SMCCCD & other Basic Aid districts

Returning to the subject of the District’s compensation offers to faculty, in our union’s contract bargaining the District’s highest salary proposal has been 2.75% and 3.25% (for non-instructional adjunct faculty) annually. This was up from their baffling initial offer of only 1.5% annually. As The Advocate recently reported (See “Why do faculty need raises: A brief financial analysis of SMCCCD revenues and faculty compensation”), these offers fail to take into account the Bay Area’s exorbitant cost of living, including rising home prices. A low pay raise would also increase the gap between our salaries and other Bay Area Basic Aid Districts such as the College of Marin, whose union recently won 15% in faculty pay increases.

Economic uncertainty “beyond our control”?

Stock AI-generated image ID: 2586172237, Scrooge Mcduck, by Shutterstock AI. Used with permission.

Before and after the Chancellor spoke about economic uncertainty “beyond our control,” a flurry of Bay Area newspaper articles and the San Mateo County Controller painted a rosier picture of economic stability and growth, increased consumer spending and low unemployment. Regarding the housing market that assessed valuations are based on, the San Mateo County Controller projected a 4.3% increase for FY 2026-27, in stark contrast to the Chancellor’s 3% figure. Further, The San Francisco Chronicle reported,“The Bay Area housing market enters 2026 with cautious optimism, as experts predict steady but modest growth…” From Palo Alto Online, we saw that across the Midpeninsula, “tech-driven buyers continue to build wealth faster than home prices are rising, providing long-term support for [home] values.”

District flush but stingy

According to the San Mateo County Controller, in just the most recent fiscal year our District received $227,728,958 in local property tax revenues. (Funding is received from a variety of other sources as well). As the District also sits on an acknowledged $48 million in cash reserves, it hardly appears that our District is suffering from any starvation of revenue.

As we’ve seen, recent and historical facts and trends do not paint a clear picture of economic uncertainty “beyond our [District’s] control.” The “honest” picture is of one of the richest districts in one of the richest counties with one of the strongest real estate markets (property assessment trends included) in America. Lowballing faculty is not “honoring” employees – it’s just the opposite. If we must go on strike to achieve fair pay, then we stand ready to do it.

End Notes

^[1] Employees can watch the recording of the Chancellor’s remarks here by choosing the “SSO” sign on option.

^[2] (For a further explanation of Basic Aid districts, read What does it mean when SMCCCD is called a“Basic Aid” or “Community -Supported” district? ).

^[3]To download a spreadsheet with the current assessed valuation from the Assessor’s website, go to https://apps.smcacre.org/art2/artentry.htm. Click on “Land and Improvements xlsx” to open the spreadsheet; then click on the “School Dist” tab at the bottom and look at “SM JR COLLEGE GEN PUR” on the last line to view the updated increase in the DIstrict’s assessed valuation figure.