Welcome to the start of the 2024-25 school year! Five years ago when I started writing these articles, I had no idea that a worldwide pandemic would begin in just a few short months. We went from not knowing about the virus to completely closing campuses to going nearly 100% online to now acting in some ways like the virus never happened. Masks are now uncommon where I live, and social distancing appears to be forgotten save for a few worn social distancing markers on the floors of the occasional store.

Unfortunately, the virus is still with us. A couple of weeks ago the LA Times [Source:  https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-19/californias-relentless-covid-surge-worsens-fueled-by-a-much-more-infectious-variant] noted that the “FLiRT” variant of COVID has reached some of the highest levels in wastewater since 2022. While vaccines, improved treatment options and immunity from past infections is limiting hospitalizations, a significant number of your students, who now are only occasionally taking precautions, will be missing class due to illness from COVID, influenza and the common cold. I encourage you to plan for having more absent students and possibly more used sick days yourself than in the pre-COVID years.

The good news is that the students are coming! According to the State Chancellor’s Office, the total FTES in the system (credit and non-credit combined) was 1.18 million in 2018-19, dropped to 974,000 in 2021-22 and now has rebounded to 1.10 million this past year. The Total Computational Revenue for all CCC districts went from $7.20 billion in 2018-19 to $9.55 billion in 2023-24. This 32.6% increase is well above the 23.3% inflation index (CPI-W) for the same timeframe. We are, at least at the moment, past the pandemic with regard to student headcount and state funding.

However, this doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily in for smooth sailing ahead. The CA Legislative Analyst’s Office is projecting deficits in each of the next few years [Source:  https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4922]. California’s high cost of living, combined with a limited housing supply, means that large numbers of our students will be housing insecure for years to come. In addition, the California Legislature continues to pass hundreds of bills each year, some of which require us to make changes to long accepted processes. Although we certainly can’t control everything around us, there are ways that you can influence the future of the State Community College system.

First, engage your local legislators. Your local board of trustees and your state legislators determine how many faculty to hire, how much funding to provide the colleges, and what most of the laws and regulations will be. While national politics may get most of the media’s airtime, your local legislators have the most influence over your classroom and your pocketbook. Go to their events and meet with them and their staff. Tell them about your needs and concerns.

Second, engage your CCA leaders. As CCA President I attend the Board of Governors meetings. I am CTA’s appointee to the Chancellor’s Consultation Council, a member of the CCCCO’s AI Council, and a member of Council of Faculty Organizations. CCA can, and does, bring items of interest to our members to state-level meetings, but we need to know what those items are. If you keep your regional CCA director or at-large CCA director informed about the state of your campus, the information we discuss at the CCA Board meetings will be more readily brought to Sacramento. You can also contact me directly at president@cca4us.org.

Third, get involved. Providing support to a local political candidate has a positive residual effect.  Local union organizing often brings results. Attending a CCA conference (the next one is in late October in Burlingame) provides training as to how a union functions and offers networking opportunities beyond one’s local campus. Your local union president should have the registration information and the process for declaring you to be a delegate to our conferences. If you are a local president or State Council delegate, please attend our monthly online leadership Zoom meetings, and if you are part-time faculty, please attend our monthly Part-time Visioning sessions. You can find the exact times and sign-up information at https://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/calendar.php?crd=calendarforcca or by clicking on the “Calendar” link on our website, https://www.cca4us.org.

I look forward to representing the 11,000 members of CCA this year and advocating for the needs of all community college faculty and their students. I look forward to hearing from you and learning about your local situation and your interests. Most of all, I look forward to seeing our union power grow through its members taking the actions I’ve mentioned above. May you have an engaging and productive semester!