4/15 email

Dear PSC Members,

I hope you are safe and in good health. Please call on the union if there is any way we can assist you in this crisis.

The New York State budget was enacted earlier this month, and the PSC has provided the summary below of its implications for CUNY. PSC members’ vigorous advocacy over several years helped to protect the CUNY budget from cuts this year, despite a multi-billion dollar State budget deficit. While the State budget does not cut CUNY funds, it does keep operating funding for the CUNY senior and community colleges largely flat, with some important exceptions.

I will be sending an update on other issues shortly, including the union’s bargaining demands for this emergency. For now, please join me in thanking the PSC members who have donated stockpiles of protective medical equipment to frontline healthcare workers and the 400 faculty who volunteered to help the children of New York nurses with their homework. And please consider a contribution to the emergency fund to support healthcare workers affiliated to our own union, through NYSUT.

Best wishes for your health and the health of your communities.

Barbara Bowen President, PSC/CUNY

Enacted New York State Budget for CUNY The PSC’s vigorous advocacy over several years helped to protect the CUNY budget from cuts in the budget enacted on April 3, despite a multi-billion dollar State budget deficit. While the State budget enacted during the coronavirus pandemic does not cut CUNY funds, it does keep operating funding for the CUNY senior and community colleges largely flat. An exception to the flat budget is that the new adjunct office hours at the senior colleges have been funded, consistent with the commitment made by the governor’s office. (Funding for the adjunct office hours at the community colleges was included in the mayor’s preliminary budget, released in January.) The progress the union had made in gaining legislative support for adding tens of millions of dollars to close the TAP Gap, however, did not come to fruition because of the emergency budget. We were very close to winning additional funding, and we will build on this year’s progress next year.

But there may be more budget battles even before next year’s session. Three new factors could have a major impact on CUNY’s funding in the coming months. First, the economy: the massive unemployment and economic downturn resulting from the pandemic is expected to lead to a loss of state tax revenue of between $10 billion and $15 billion over the coming year. Second, the enacted budget gives the governor’s office unilateral power to cut budgets across the board or for individual agencies during FY 2021, in response to revenue shortfalls or higher-than-projected spending. Third, a mitigating factor may be federal stimulus money, including money allocated directly to public colleges, as well as newly available short-term loans for state and local governments to offset the effects of the epidemic. The legislation authorizing the federal stimulus funds for higher education also includes requirements for maintaining State funding for higher education.

The union’s immediate challenge will be to monitor the use of these federal funds. The PSC leadership is already engaged in this work and is in discussion directly with Congressional leadership. The next challenge, for which the strength of the whole union will be needed, will be to resist any cuts to CUNY that may be proposed in the coming months. After years of inadequate funding, CUNY cannot sustain further cuts, even in a period of austerity. The pandemic has revealed how critical public schools and colleges are to the economy as a whole. Another challenge will be to press for longer-term solutions from the federal government, even beyond the stimulus money. Finally, PSC members will need to continue to demand a structural solution to the shortfalls and inequality in the State budget even before the pandemic hit: fair taxation of those who can most afford to pay. Higher taxation of wealth has been part of the solution of many other major economic crises, from the Great Depression to September 11th to the 2008 recession.

Senior Colleges There are no cuts to State funding for the senior colleges; funding remains largely flat at $552 million, except for additional fringe benefit coverage and funding for the adjunct office hours negotiated in the recent contract. But most of the University’s FY2021 cost increases for collective bargaining, energy, rent and other operating costs are not funded. Without funding to cover these costs, the senior colleges could face additional austerity. Several colleges ended last year with reserve funds, however, and those funds should be used if needed. As in the Executive Budget and previous budgets, the FY2021 budget includes modest amounts for Open Educational Resources ($4 million), to provide free access to textbooks for students; and for an approved spending plan by the Board of Trustees ($12 million), a portion of which may be used to support classroom faculty. The budget for FY2021 assumes there will be a $200 tuition increase next fall, but it denies the governor’s proposal to provide authorization now for senior college tuition increases in subsequent years. The $120 “wellness fee” proposed by the CUNY administration does not require authorization by the State legislature. CUNY management has not yet issued further information concerning the fee. SEEK, CUNY’s opportunity program for senior colleges, is allocated the same funding as last year, including the increase negotiated by the legislature last year. The School of Labor and Urban Studies is allocated the funding at same level as last year. The Executive Budget proposal to cut funds from this program was rejected by the legislature. There is a $50.7 million increase in the budget under the heading of Fringe Benefits.

Community Colleges CUNY community colleges will receive the same rate of $2,947 per full-time-equivalent student under the enacted budget, but declining FTE enrollment at the community colleges will result in a reduction in total funding next year. The enacted budget assumes an enrollment decline of roughly 1,200 FTE students at the community colleges and a resultant $3.6 million reduction in community college funding. The enrollment/funding estimate does not account for how the coronavirus pandemic will affect enrollment or for ways that CUNY faculty and staff have already begun to work with students to help them to stay enrolled next year. The planned $200 tuition hike at the CUNY community colleges does not require authorization by the State legislature. College Discovery, CUNY’s opportunity program for the community colleges, is allocated the same funding as last year. ASAP, rental aid and CUNY childcare centers are all allocated funds at the same level as last year, maintaining increases advocated by the PSC and included by the legislature last year. Executive Budget proposals to cut these programs were rejected by the legislature.

Capital Budget The enacted budget provides $284 million for critical maintenance at CUNY senior colleges and $64.3 million for critical maintenance at CUNY community colleges. The community college funding must be matched by a City allocation. The enacted budget creates a new $300 million matching program to fund new construction and/or major renovations at CUNY senior colleges. The program requires that for every $2 invested by the State, campuses contribute $1 toward project costs.

Financial Aid The governor’s Executive Budget proposal to increase the income eligibility threshold for the Excelsior Scholarship from $125,000 to $135,000 in FY2021 was not included in the enacted budget. The TAP Gap is not addressed in the budget. In FY2021 the State will continue to underfund financial aid for CUNY’s senior college TAP recipients, and the colleges will lose out on more than $80 million in revenue. Both the Senate and the Assembly were poised to push for partial restoration of the TAP Gap before the coronavirus pandemic led to a $15-billion drop in state revenue projections.

No New Taxes for the Rich; Potential Mid-Year Budget Cuts for CUNY New York State’s tax revenue is projected to fall by $10 billion to $15 billion over the next year. The enacted budget includes no new revenue-raising measures. Billionaires and the ultra-rich will continue to pay a lower effective tax rate than other New Yorkers. The budget authorizes the governor’s director of the budget, CUNY Trustee Robert Mujica, to unilaterally reduce appropriations at three points during the fiscal year if state tax receipts fall further or if spending rises more than expected. The PSC will be focused on preventing cuts to CUNY this year.

Federal Stimulus Money for CUNY The most recent federal stimulus includes $14 billion in funding for institutions of higher education, including more than $235 million to be distributed among the CUNY colleges. The allocation is based on the number of students in a college and the number of Pell-grant recipients, so the allocation to CUNY is appropriately higher than for institutions with smaller numbers of low-income students. At least half of the stimulus funds are designed to go directly to students; the remaining funds will be subject to guidance that has yet to be promulgated by the Department of Education. The stimulus funds are one-time cash infusions, not recurring funds for the colleges. The PSC leadership is actively engaged in discussions with Senator Chuck Schumer’s office and our national affiliate, AFT, on the distribution of stimulus funds to CUNY and on proposals for additional higher education funding in the next federal stimulus bill.