The Administration and CRFO have started to become active in advocating for CR with our legislators.  Lee Lindsey and I met with State Senator Mike McGuire recently and shared our views on SB 1460 Community Colleges Funding: San Francisco Community College District and the Legislative Analyst’s Office Mandated Claims report.  We were not able to meet with Assemblyman Wood, but we shared the following points with him in a letter:

SB 1460

• City College of San Francisco is being considered for additional funding due to its accreditation issues and enrollment instability.
• College of the Redwoods (CR) was placed on Show Cause by the ACCJC at the same time that CCSF was placed on Show Cause.
• Similar to CSSF, CR suffered enrollment losses as a result of the negative publicity associated with accreditation sanctions.  CR continues to see depressed enrollments.
• CR should be included in some form into the legislation intended to support CCSF with its accreditation issues and enrollment losses.
• These funds would help stabilize CR and allow the College to invest in attracting and retaining resident students.

State Mandate Claims Payments

• 2015-16 mandate payments to community colleges were allocated through the SB361 funding model on a "dollars per student" basis.  The State's 2015-16 payment cleared the receivables for all but 14 colleges.
• College of the Redwoods still has a $5.9 million balance due from the State for mandated costs.  This shows that State mandates have disproportionately impacted some college districts more than others.
• The LAO correctly notes that making the final payments to the 14 colleges through the SB361 funding model will result in large payments to colleges with no bills remaining. However, CR disagrees with the LAO's conclusion that no mandate payments should be made to the remaining colleges. CR recommends making mandate payments directly to the remaining colleges.
• CR's $5.9 million could be paid in full in 2016-17, or paid as $2.95 million over two years, or $1.97 million over three years. 

Of course, face-to-face visits with our elected officials are the most influential form of legislative advocacy.  Four of our CRFO colleagues—Mike Haley, Michelle Haggerty, Peter Blakemore and Todd Olsen—met with our legislators on May 16^th.  Two of our students, Quang-Minh Pham (ASCR President) and Lhiam Howard (2015-16 CR Student Trustee), joined the faculty in Sacramento. You can read the story of their visit at: http://www.redwoods.edu/News/ArtMID/690/ArticleID/712/Faculty-and-Students-Travel-to-Sacramento-to-Advocate-with-Legislators-and-the-Chancellor%E2%80%99s-Office.