MPC administration braces for teacher union mediation talks and state funding changes.

The mood was tense in the Sam Karas Room on the Monterey Peninsula College campus on May 23. As the MPC Board of Trustees approved routine contract renewals for several administrators, MPC Teachers Association President Lauren Blanchard jumped up to the podium before each vote to push on one point: The administrators were all at the highest salary step possible – step 5 – while teachers have 17 steps to reach the top level. MPC President Walt Tribley argued that the college had to keep administrators’ salaries competitive to retain qualified people, but Blanchard was persistent: “It raises the fortune of administrators, as teachers sink lower and lower.”

The two sides will be face to face Monday, June 11, as they sit down for a second round of mediation led by a representative from the state Public Employment Relations Board. Teachers have been working without a contract for five years, and last year pushed hard for salary raises in a series of negotiations, until they reached an impasse last October. MPCTA leaders declared frustration that administrators were only offering a 1-percent raise for full-time faculty and 2-percent for part time. After working with a mediator for more than 10 hours on Feb. 6, talks came to a halt again because administrators said they could not agree to anything until after Governor Jerry Brown’s budget was released.

On May 11 Brown’s budget was out, and community college advocates across the state praised a 2.7-percent cost of living allocation and other one-time funds proposed for 2018-19. The Community College League of California and dozens of groups representing low-income students and students of color also said a new funding formula proposed by Brown, called the “student-focused funding formula,” was a positive step toward helping lower performing students succeed.

Tribley was grim on May 23, however, saying in his opinion the new formula only shifted resources, warning it “will cripple” MPC. Current funding is based on how many students attend, regardless of whether or not they earn a degree or certificate, or transfer to a university. The proposed formula would give colleges 50 percent of monies based on the number of students, 25 percent based on the number of low-income students enrolled, and 25 percent based on the number of degrees and certificates granted.

MPC’s completion rate was 48.5 percent in 2016-17 – mirroring statewide rates – according to data from the Chancellor’s Office. More than 70 percent of students who are considered “college prepared” completed or transferred, but only 42.5 percent of “unprepared” students finished. The low completion rates could mean significant cuts for MPC, and Tribley said, “We must fight like the dickens to resist [the new formulas].”

In the meantime, the faculty union isn’t letting up on the pressure to raise teacher salaries. At 6pm June 11, when mediation talks end, teachers, students and labor union representatives plan to gather at El Estero Park for a march to the campus.

“MPC is having trouble attracting and retaining teachers,” states a May 29 union email announcing the march, “and that hurts students because we experience high turnover and lack of educational continuity in our programs.”