As Cal State Long Beach faculty were casting 11th hour strike votes in the University Student Union Plaza lobby, the college’s top union representative told the Academic Senate, “We have had an all-time faculty turnout to have their voices heard.”
Lydia Sondhi, Long Beach’s California Faculty Association chapter president, said, “We have literally exhausted every option. If they [CSU negotiators] remain silent, CFA’s last alternative is a job action.”
Coincidental to Thursday’s Academic Senate meeting was the last day for faculty to vote on whether to support two-day rolling walkouts at the CSU system’s 23 campuses.
Kathleen Lacey, associate director of the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership, said, “It seems very sad to me that this situation has deteriorated to this point.” Lacey said she hopes an agreement is reached before a job action takes place.
During the last hour of voting, Sondhi worked the voting table, encouraging faculty to become involved and let their voices be heard, one way or another. Sondhi said large numbers of teachers had cast votes during the day – voting ran from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. – and that she was somewhat surprised at the turnout.
“I would bet that we’ve had as good, if not better, a voting turnout of faculty than we’ve had on other issues over the years,” Sondhi said.
Voting results will be tabulated by the League of Women Voters on March 19 and 20 and announced on Wednesday. Sondhi said she hopes to see a strike authorization with large numbers of supporters, and upon completion of the “fact-finding” stage, hopes that it will give CSU negotiators greater incentive to reach a settlement in the nearly two-year battle.
Also during the meeting, Vice President of Administration and Finance Bill Griffith presented an overview of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s upcoming budget predictions. Griffith cited a slowdown in the state’s economy, declines in the housing industry, but said the governor projects the state revenue base will be up seven percent.
Griffith said the governor’s optimism assumes the state will have a balanced budget and will eliminate previous deficits, ending the year with a $2 billion reserve.
Griffith, who is retiring, pointed out risks to Schwarzenegger’s outlook, which the governor insists will have no new taxes and will fully fund Proposition 98, by citing several items pointed out by the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO).
Some of the risks Griffith cited that could have a negative impact on higher education, if implemented, included shifting educational transportation funds to the state’s transportation system, medical care in state prisons entering into receivership and the governor’s plan for comprehensive health care reform.
Griffith said that, while the LAO nearly always has a bleak opinion of Schwarzenegger’s projected budgets, the governor has been fairly successful in getting his way. Among items that could have negative consequences to CSU state funding is the proposed Career Technical Education Initiative, which could divert state discretionary funds to California’s 109 community colleges.
His proposed “2007-08 budget includes $52 million to build and improve Career Technical Education,” according to the Office of the Governor Web site. That money would come partially from Proposition 98, known as the “Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act,” but the balance would come from the state’s discretionary fund, which also funds many CSU programs.
During his report, CSU statewide Sen. David Hood said the “CSU wants changes to the No Child Left Behind Act, because, obviously, some do get left behind.”
A study released last month by the Center on Education Policy, based in Washington, D.C., indicated, “Among California schools, 207 have missed progress goals for seven consecutive years and 10 have missed them for eight years.”
