Read PSC’s New York State Budget Testimony
PSC First Vice President Steve London testified today (Feb. 11) before a joint legislative hearing on the State Budget for higher education. In his testimony, London reiterated the PSC’s opposition to using tuition hikes to offset inadequate State funding for CUNY and he called for an increase in State funding for CUNY to hire new full-time faculty. He also urged the Legislature to fund projected increases in CUNY’s mandatory costs such as energy, rent and collectively bargained salary steps, which are not funded with public dollars in the Governor’s Executive Budget plan. On behalf of the union, London also opposed a shift toward “performance-based” funding for some community colleges degrees and pressed the Legislature to increase community college Base Aid.
A booklet provided to legislators along with the testimony, Invest in Opportunity, 2013, details the State’s disinvestment in CUNY over the last 23 years, and the effects of that disinvestment, especially how it has led to tuition hikes and a shortage of full-time faculty. You can download Invest in Opportunity, 2013, read Steve London’s Testimony and sign up to take action on the State Budget Campaign page of the PSC website.
Support the Union’s State Budget Campaign; Lobby with Us.
PSC members are meeting with legislators in Albany and in their local district offices here in New York City to make the case for the PSC’s budget platform. Sign up for one or more of these events, via the web form on our State Budget Campaign page:
- NYSUT Committee of 100 Advocacy Day, Albany—Mar. 4-5
- NYSUT Higher Education Advocacy Day, Albany—Mar. 11-12
- Student/Faculty/Staff Higher Ed Action Day—Mar. 12
- Other In-District Meeting Dates to Be Announced
Transportation, food and hotel costs for the Mar. 4-5 and Mar. 11-12 Albany trips are covered by NYSUT. Members can also ride back and forth to Albany in one day with students on the buses for the Mar. 12 Student/Faculty/Staff Higher Ed Action Day.
Sign the Pathways Petition
Do you have colleagues in professional organizations, research groups and other networks who would oppose curricular “reforms” like Pathways, which undermine the quality of public higher education? If so, please send them a link to the National Petition for a Moratorium on CUNY’s Pathways Curriculum. And sign the petition, if you haven’t already. Last spring’s CUNY-wide petition was a separate petition. If you didn’t sign in the last four months, your name is not on the national petition.
Adjunct Health Insurance Extended Through April 30
The current adjunct health insurance through the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund has been extended through April 30. Read the message here.
