March 10, 2025
Dear Editor,
As an instructor with over a decade of experience, I am deeply concerned about the ongoing contract negotiations. California community colleges are economic engines, yet the educators who power them remain significantly underpaid. Now, trustees are using an $11 million reduction in revenue from California’s free college program as an excuse to suppress faculty salaries further. They frame our fight for fair pay as selfish, ignoring the reality that competitive compensation strengthens educational quality, supports student success, and ensures the District can continue to provide both low-cost and high-quality education.
Every day, I see how faculty drive our local economy. From biotech and law to finance and manufacturing, we teach the cutting-edge skills that will power tomorrow’s industries. Yet when private-sector employers offer far more competitive salaries, our District struggles to recruit, hire, and retain top instructors—undermining the programs students rely on for career advancement.
Community college faculty do more than train the next generation of skilled professionals. We prepare students for essential front-line roles—healthcare, firefighters, law enforcement, and tradespeople—who keep our communities running. We also play a critical role in strengthening democracy by teaching students to evaluate information critically, a skill vital to national security and social cohesion. Unlike university faculty, we teach heavy course loads without teaching assistants, managing all aspects of grading, advising, and curriculum development ourselves.
The situation is even worse for part-time and contingent faculty, who make up the majority of our teaching force. Many live in economic precarity, piecing together classes at multiple colleges, commuting long distances, and lacking job security or benefits. In high-cost areas like San Mateo County, some adjunct professors even qualify for public assistance—an unacceptable reality for professionals responsible for training America’s essential workforce. Meanwhile, some folks suggest replacing human instructors with artificial intelligence, a move that would undermine the mentoring and hands-on training that make community college education so effective.
The private sector understands that competitive pay attracts and retains top talent. The same principle applies to our community colleges. If we don’t compensate faculty fairly, we will continue losing experienced instructors, degrading program quality, widening skills gaps, and ultimately driving jobs overseas. The solution is clear: the Board of Trustees must recognize that investing in faculty is an investment in America’s workforce, economic independence, and future prosperity. The Board must look beyond short-term thinking and commit to competitive faculty salaries—before we lose even more talented educators to economic insecurity or misguided cost-cutting measures. To make this happen, we must come together as a community to support our colleagues in the fight for fair pay. Let’s do this!
Sincerely,
Jesse Raskin, Professor, Skyline College