LCC Faculty Colleagues,
I’m writing with a few brief, yet important updates.
LCCEA Updates
Solidarity
Through the overwhelming solidarity and support of our LCCEA faculty, students, and community, your LCCEA Bargaining Team reached a Tentative Agreement last week as strike pledges reached 96%. This could not have happened without the extraordinary efforts of our Action Team and the support of union members and hundreds of faculty, students, and community members who participated in organizing activities during this campaign, which absolutely made a huge impact on our success!
We are also grateful for the support and encouragement we received from numerous elected officials, including Representative Lisa Fragala, Congresswoman Val Hoyle, and Senator Merkley.
Together, we have power. Our solidarity and resolve carried us through.
Tentative Agreement Next Steps
Please see the Tentative Agreement summary as well as all of the TA articles if you have not yet reviewed them.
- All LCCEA members have the opportunity to vote to ratify the Tentative Agreement (i.e., TA). Voting continues through Tuesday, March 10.
- Pending the results of the LCCEA membership vote, we will have a Celebration!
- The TA will take effect and become the new contract after both the LCCEA members ratify and the Board of Ed ratifies, which is expected to take place on March 18.
- After the ratification by both parties, the Action Team will take down the outdoor signs on campus.
- In the meantime, please consider updating your students about the status in anticipation of Spring term.
State Updates
Funding
- The state legislature successfully passed the Federal disconnect bill that will ensure that the Community College Support Fund remains intact. There will be no reduction in state funding for community colleges!
ICE Alerts
- The state legislature also passed a bill requiring alerts whenever ICE is confirmed at any school or higher education campus in Oregon.
Both of these will go into effect upon signature of Governor Kotek.
LCC Updates
“Budget Mitigation Plan”
The Administration is now asking the Board of Education to vote tomorrow on a newly released “plan” with $4.4 Million in unspecified cuts. The plan includes $1M in cuts related to “potential state cuts” even though the legislature just passed a bill that preserves funding for the State and will keep the Community College Support Fund intact, so there will be no reduction in state funding for community colleges, including LCC. The plan also includes $400,000 in “additional bargaining commitments,” which is not consistent with the LCCEA-LCC Tentative Agreement, nor, from our understanding, the new LCCEF agreement. In addition, the plan provides NO details on which services, college operations, or programs would be reduced or eliminated. It lists only high level categories – $2M of the proposed cuts from college operations, $1.4M from support services, and $983K from academic programs. Furthermore, it includes no reference to the $1.5+ Million dollars in creation and funding of new, unspecified programs and investments the Administration proposed in January and included in their mitigation plan at that time for a Board vote, which the Board did pass – these are unknown budget additions that create the need for unknown budget reductions.
Finally, asking the Board to vote on cuts without knowing what they are would cause the Board of Education members to disregard their duty to the public, the campus, and community at-large. It would also be inconsistent with their own policies on program and service cuts as well as documented, longstanding precedent. In short, the plan to make $4.4 Million in unknown cuts places the Board in an untenable position to make decisions of significant impact on the college, students, and local community without any clear information on what would be cut, for what reason, and what the tradeoffs and impacts of any such decision would be.
Please also note that no notice has been provided to LCCEA about potential cuts, nor has the Administration followed the contractually and legally-required negotiation process that they must abide by before implementing any possible reductions that would affect faculty. We made a formal information request about this yesterday and will share more information once it is available.
The Board will also be voting on tuition, and their full agenda is here on BoardDocs. The meeting is open to the public.
Final Note
As I reflect on our 50th Anniversary of LCCEA celebration and the year since last April, I am deeply proud and grateful to have the opportunity to serve as your union President. The overwhelming support and unity that we achieved together as a faculty over the course of the bargaining campaign is not only heartening, it is a testament to our collective strength and power, cementing the future of LCCEA, in service of our students and community, for the next fifty years.
With appreciation, and in solidarity,
Adrienne
Lane Community College Education Association 