Welcome back, and what you can do about the state budget
The following was sent to the members’ e-mail list:
Dear colleagues,
As you prepare for the start of the fall semester, I want to welcome you back and provide you information about the state budget and expected mid-year cuts. I hope you are all well, and I wish you the best for a fall where you have enough time to do what you’d like at USF and at home and where you are supported at USF to do what you know is professionally appropriate. I also hope to see you at one of the fall chapter meetings–the first is this Friday, August 24, starting at noon, in EDU (I think room 413 — watch for the biweekly e-mail newsletter Thursday).
I also know that many of you are concerned about the budget cuts pending with the special session of the legislature that starts the week of September 17. In this e-mail, I want to tell you what the current situation is, what may happen over the next few months, what UFF has been doing over the summer and will continue to do, and what you can do to help the university system and all of us survive budget cuts in the best shape that we can.
If you like short e-mails, I’ll tell you the end right now: I ask you to contact your state legislators this Thursday and Friday — both your state representative and your state senator — and tell each of them that the legislature has a choice of whether to cut new programs that have no students yet and no employees yet, or to cut existing university programs that have students currently enrolled and faculty and other employees who have been at USF for years. This Thursday and Friday, please tell your legislators that it is the practical and moral choice to preserve existing university programs that serve real students currently enrolled in universities, even if that means shrinking the Centers of Excellence program or delaying one or both of the two new medical schools. Find your representatives by submitting your zip code in the “Find Your Legislator” panel in the left side of the Florida Senate page (http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm ), and call the local office to speak to staff member. (Remember: USE YOUR OWN PHONE AND DO NOT USE UNIVERSITY E-MAIL OR UNIVERSITY EQUIPMENT TO CONTACT LEGISLATORS TO ADVOCATE POSITIONS ON SPECIFIC PIECES OF LEGISLATION.)
IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTACT LEGISLATORS NOW BECAUSE HOUSE AND SENATE COMMITTEES MEET NEXT WEEK TO DISCUSS BUDGET CUTS.
Here’s the background behind that request:
What we know
At the state level. We know that state general revenues are down, over $1 billion if you include the last few months of the prior fiscal year with the current year that started July 1. We know that the legislature will meet in special session to impose mid-year cuts. We also know that Florida law limits to some extent the damage that the legislature can do to education in mid-year cuts, limited to the same proportion in the state’s general revenues as a whole. But that’s possibly 4% of general revenues. Applied to the state university system, that would be approximately $100 million dollars — enough to swallow up the entire operating budget of the University of North Florida, or the salaries and benefits of 1,000 professors, or the combined budgets of every single history department and law school in the system. In other words, a flat across-the-board cut in the state budget would still be very painful if applied to existing programs. Because education uses more than half of general revenues in Florida, it is almost impossible for education to escape a substantial cut.
Here at USF. We know that the central administration has asked administrators down the line to prepare for budget cuts, 3% in credit-generating units and 5% elsewhere. The provost has said she will ask the faculty senate for broader advice on program cuts in academic areas, and we can expect that administrators have conducted budget-cutting simulations. We know that many colleges have at least looked at some layoff possibilities, and one in-unit professional employee has received a layoff notice. We know that the provost directed administrators to raise class caps to the room size. In at least a few cases, we know this has meant class caps (and enrollment) at least 50% above the cap and enrollments for the same courses in fall 2006.
What may happen
Different possibilities. There are different scenarios possible when the legislature meets, and it all depends on how the legislature treats the rainy-day fund (the Budget Stabilization Fund), the approximately $110 million in funding for new initiatives in the state university system, and tuition. If the legislature dips at least moderately into the rainy-day fund, if the legislature cuts back significantly on new initiatives, or if the legislature authorizes moderate tuition raises, each of those steps can insulate existing programs from the worst cuts. If the legislature takes all of these steps, existing programs can survive mostly intact, if not comfortably.
Worst-case scenario. If the legislature takes no steps to buffer the system from budget cuts, and if E&G funding is cut at least 4%, I expect the administration to lay off at least a few dozen employees in various parts of the university. While they have some obligations in layoff circumstances, and while tenured and long-term employees have some protection, the administration does have the right to lay off employees. We expect that the first cuts would come in non-instructional areas, including professional employees in the UFF bargaining unit. If cuts affect instruction, we expect that the administration in various colleges will first decide not to hire adjuncts and only touch ranked faculty (lecturers, instructors, assistant professors) if they cannot absorb enough cuts elsewhere. While the administration has the legal right to lay off full-time instructional faculty, they have enormous incentives to avoid that.
What UFF has been doing over the summer
At the state level. Staff members at the Florida Education Association have been watching developments and e-mailing elected union leaders regularly about the state budget situation, and the United Faculty of Florida chapter presidents around the state talked by phone a few weeks ago. The chapter presidents agreed that the legislature should preserve existing programs in higher education, even if that requires delaying some new initiatives. That position is the direction that UFF has given Florida Education Association government relations staff as they talk with legislators and legislative staff members about higher education funding, in addition to a position that FEA holds in general, that the rainy-day fund exists precisely for situations such as hurricanes and state revenue shortfalls. I’ve talked with a handful of legislators in the past few weeks, and many of them are receptive to concerns about existing programs — that willingness to listen stretches across both parties, because their constituents include USF students as well as us.
Here at USF. Shortly after the provost distributed an e-mail directing that class sizes be raised to the room size, I asked President Genshaft and USF Board of Trustees Chair Rhea Law to start bargaining the impact of larger class sizes — the way that it affects faculty workload, the quality of education, and implications for student ratings (and annual evaluations, at least indirectly). I have talked with administrators, and right now we are engaged in a subtle dance about how to address class sizes. I hope we can address the most urgent and important needs of faculty affected by the change in practices. In addition, Chapter Vice President Mark Klisch and I have discussed layoff procedures with administrators. In addition to several procedural issues, we have noted that non-tenured and non-tenure-track faculty and professional employees are disproportionately women and from minority backgrounds when compared to the tenured faculty, and that we will be watching large numbers of layoffs for potential disparate impact by sex and race.
Finally, we have shared the United Faculty of Florida’s statewide perspective on budget cuts with the administration. The Board of Governors was remarkably silent on budget cuts at its August meeting, and so were most administrators from the state, with one exception — FSU Provost Larry Abele wrote the Board of Governors July 28, urging that they be willing to cut the Centers of Excellence entirely to preserve existing programs. For a variety of reasons, I suspect that the BOG was unable to come to a clear consensus on that issue and also the ballooning costs of the not-yet-open medical schools at UCF and FIU. I understand the value of speaking with one voice. On the other hand, I see danger when the system’s leaders are silent on a matter that can irreparably harm the universities. So we must speak up.
What you can do
At the state level. As I wrote at the beginning of the letter, you can make a difference. Either Thursday, August 23, or Friday, August 24, please contact your state legislators — both your state representative and your state senator — and tell each of them what budget cuts mean for the university. Find your representatives by submitting your zip code in the “Find Your Legislator” panel in the left side of the Florida Senate page (http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm), and call the local office to speak to a staff member. (Remember: USE YOUR OWN PHONE AND DO NOT USE UNIVERSITY E-MAIL OR UNIVERSITY EQUIPMENT TO CONTACT LEGISLATORS TO ADVOCATE POSITIONS ON SPECIFIC PIECES OF LEGISLATION.)
Some tips:
1. First identify yourself as a constituent and someone who works at USF. Quickly say that you’re calling about the state budget cuts and choices that legislators have in higher-education budget cuts.
2. Briefly explain the core message: The legislature has a choice of whether to cut new programs that have no students yet and no employees yet, or to cut existing programs that have students currently enrolled and faculty and other employees who have been at USF for years. The rainy-day fund should be tapped, and the existing university programs should be preserved even if that means that new initiatives are delayed or dramatically curtailed.
3. In the legislature, anecdotes rule: If you know of a specific effect that is already being felt at USF, by you or students you know, please explain that in a few sentences. (It is not cheating to write up notes before you call or to rehearse what you intend to say!)
4. Please be polite when calling, and when you are done, thank the staff member for listening.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTACT LEGISLATORS NOW BECAUSE HOUSE AND SENATE COMMITTEES MEET NEXT WEEK TO DISCUSS BUDGET CUTS. You will probably receive two more e-mails in the next month asking you to contact your representatives, before a second round of committee meetings in September and then right before or at the start of the legislative session. Each time, you will be asked to call before a key decision point or possibly to thank legislators for making a good decision.
Here at USF. As I said earlier, the chapter needs to keep an eye on two things that require some analysis: changes in class sizes and the potential for disparate impacts of layoffs. I am teaching three classes this fall, so I do not personally have the ability to do my job as chapter president and also conduct this type of analysis. I need help from people willing to look at class-size patterns and layoff patterns. If you have time now, before September 15, I would appreciate help with the class-size analysis; it would probably take 5 hours total, and splitting the job among 2-3 people would make it go quickly . If you anticipate having some time in late September-early October, when the chapter might receive layoff notices, I would appreciate a team ready to turn around a disparate-impact analysis of layoffs .
And if you are personally affected by class-size changes, especially if your class sizes were at 30 or more last fall and have increased at least 25%, please contact me.
It’s great to have you as colleagues and fellow members, and while the budget forecast is bleak, I am convinced that together, we can make a difference for the university’s future and to minimize layoffs.
Yours,
Sherman
Sherman Dorn
USF Chapter President
United Faculty of Florida
