2004 State of the Union Report

The Local 1650 constitution calls for an annual report by the Federation President on the State of our Union, assessing of the achievements of the concluded year and the challenges of that upcoming. If there is any overarching message for this Union in the events of 2003, it is hardly a novel one. It is a message we have seen in each and every year of the Local's history, a message which will evidence itself again in 2004. That message is that the fate of this College and, in turn, our careers rests in the decisions made - or not made - in the political arena.

Federal and State Deficits

In 2003, this was most clearly evident in the impact of federal and State policies upon College revenues, programs, and staffing. At the federal level of government, the Republican Party, which once touted itself as the conservator of fiscal propriety, has pursued policies that have turned balanced budgets and surpluses into deficit budgets and staggering debt. These ill-advised policies have impacted upon both the federal and State funding of higher education.

The State of Michigan faces a systemic budget deficit that analysts contend will not disappear even when the economy recovers, absent sizable revenue enhancement or absent sizable budget cuts, in addition to the $3 billion in cuts made by Governor Granholm in her first year in office. The Engler Administration's repeated tax breaks to its corporate political base coupled with accounting slights-of-hand are largely responsible for Michigan's current budget crisis. The Engler Administration's legacy was a State government so bereft of funds that it could not long withstand an economic downturn.

That mis-management of the public trust pales by comparison to that of President Bush's Administration. The nation has moved from a budget surplus of over $200 billion at the end of the Clinton Administration to a projected 2004-05 budget deficit of $521 billion, excluding 2004-05 defense and homeland security costs. The national debt which was $5.8 trillion and declining when President Clinton left office is now $7 trillion and climbing precipitously. This increased federal debt is not due to the Iraq War, as expensive as that war is, nor to the increased costs of Homeland security - but rather to President Bush's $1.2 trillion in tax cuts, tax cuts which went primarily to the very wealthiest of taxpayers rather than to those lower income brackets, who would have spent tax refunds and thereby stimulated the economy.

Funding Cuts and HFCC

Given ballooning federal budget deficits, State governments have had to assume the increased costs of homeland security, escalating unemployment, medicaid, and underfunded federal mandates, such as the "No Child Left Behind Act." With federal obligations shifted to the State, and State revenues falling due to the nation's recession, the State's colleges and universities have been severely impacted. HFCC's loss was $2.3 million in State funding in a ten month period last year.

Because of cuts in State funding, the HFCC Federation of Teachers volunteered to freeze wages in 2002-03, so as to secure College programs, minimize tuition increases, and assure replacement of retiring teachers. As the State and federal economies further declined in 2003-04, the Federation voluntarily reopened contract negotiations and offered further contract concessions amounting to $1.2 million. These entailed delaying full-time hires, reducing starting salaries, decreasing professional improvement monies, and increasing pharmaceutical co-pays. The Union was under no obligation to reopen the contract. We could have insisted on its terms and thereby jeopardized programs, since cuts had to be made somewhere in the College budget.

The one bright spot, in conceding hard won contract provisions, was the goodwill this generated in the Dearborn community. In 2003, Dearborn citizens and taxpayers not only renewed HFCC's entire operating mills of 2.5 mills for ten years, they also voted a 0.5 mill increase in operating funding for five years, to offset in part State funding cuts. As in past College millage campaign, the Federation, through voluntary contributions from 96% of its members, provided nearly $20,000 to finance the advocacy campaign and drafted most of the campaign advocacy literature.

If 2003 was a budgetary nightmare for HFCC, 2004 promises more of the same. Governor Granholm has already indicated that the State faces $1.3 billion deficit in the 2004-05 fiscal year. The long promised economic recovery, if it does materialize in 2004, appears at this juncture to be a jobless "recovery" in the making - and one that will take longer to reach Michigan than other states. Yet another round of drastic cuts in State funding and services is coming. While the Governor has pledged to withhold another round of cuts from colleges that adhere to her tuition guidelines, that promise may prove impossible to keep. If 2003-04 is a template, HFCC could experience another $2.3 million cut in State funding this year, which will certainly trigger reopening of the contract. Such is the fiscal fallout from the legislative arena!

The Presidential election of 2004 will bring a clash of candidates and party platforms. The AFT has long contended that its members should focus on issues and not merely political party. The issues before us in 2004 are most certainly foreign policy and homeland security - but also the nation's fiscal policy and its impact on the public institutions and public services required of a democratic society. In the coming months, the Federation will provide more detailed information on federal fiscal policies and how they impact, directly and indirectly, on HFCC's funding, programs, and tuition rates. Suffice it to say, for now, that there has been a "sea change" with respect to fiscal responsibility within the Republican Party - and for educators and public employees, the impact of that " sea change" has been disastrous.

Higher Education Act

Another federal policy decision that will impact higher education in 2004 is the reauthorization of the "Higher Education Act." At stake are federal monies to higher education, particularly Pell Grant funds, which amount to $18 million for HFCC. Also of note here is that the Bush Administration has indicated that it intends to extend features of the "No Child Left Behind Act" to higher education. Among the many disturbing aspects of this Act, which may be applied to colleges and universities, are attempts to define "highly qualified teachers" and the tying of federal funding to graduation and/or "persistence" rates. Vigilance regarding HFCC's $1 million in Perkins funding will also be necessary this year, given the Bush Administration's designs on Perkins funds.

State House and Trustee Elections

At the State and local levels, 2004 will also bring State House and College Trustee elections. Dearborn Representative Gary Woronchak has been "term limited." Gary is among a handful of Republican legislators who has unwaveringly supported adequate education funding. Local 1650 has supported Gary for many years, and his voice of reason within the State Republican caucus will be sorely missed. Next fall, Local 1650 will be called upon to assist in not only the Dearborn Representative election, but in out-State legislative races that impact community college funding as well.

Regarding the HFCC Board of Trustees, the terms of Sharon Dulmage and Aimee Blackburn are up. Ms. Dulmage, along with Councilman Gino Polidori, has expressed interest in running for State Representative. Ms. Blackburn may do likewise. Next fall, Local 1650 will need the political action funds and political activism of its members to support candidates for Dearborn's State House seat and the HFCC Board of Trustees who are supportive of the programs, staffing, and funding that this College requires.

HFCC's Strategic Plan

Two other important issues are before us in 2004. First is implementation of the HFCC's Strategic Plan. Among the many important objectives and implementation steps of the plan, those addressing the fiscal viability of HFCC are paramount. Even with the additional 0.5 mill for operations provided by the Dearborn citizens, HFCC's local property revenue is the lowest, by far, of any metropolitan Detroit community college. In fact, HFCC's local property tax support per full-time equated student is among the very lowest in the entire State, ranking only above Gogebic and Bay-de-Noc Community Colleges. In terms of local property tax support, HFCC ranks 26 out of 28 community colleges in the State, while HFCC's reliance upon tuition is among the highest in the State, ranking third out of 28 the State's community colleges.

Given HFCC's small property tax base, given the magnitude of recent cuts in State funding, given static State funding at best in 2004 and thereafter, and given the limits to which this College can push tuition increases, given all of this, HFCC must secure additional revenue sources. Without an improved and dependable revenue stream, something has to give, meaning cuts in programs, additional cuts in benefits, additional cuts in wages, or reduced staffing levels. This Union and this College long ago exhausted all of the "easy" alternatives.

HFCC's Strategic Plan calls upon the College to explore several potential areas of revenue enhancement, among them establishing a presence in Livingston County, the closest geographic area without an established community college district; initiating a review of the State's community college funding formula to address costs which have arisen since the formula was first constructed, such as the costs of accrediting agency assessment mandates, increased utilization of instructional technology,and the costly updating of that technology;partnering with neighboring community colleges to preserve programs with low enrollment; and consideration of coordinating our legislative lobbying efforts with colleges which find the Michigan Community College Association unresponsive to their needs.

HFCC's long term fiscal viability - and in turn its viability as a comprehensive community college - require new, substantive funding sources. The fiscal reality is that HFCC is in an higher education marketplace populated by colleges and universities with vastly superior revenue sources. Absent improved and reliable revenue sources, the College will not be able to sustain its current program offerings or its quality of instruction. Additional efficiencies internal to the College will, of necessity, be pursued, but these alone can not assure HFCC's future as a comprehensive community college.

New HFCC Faculty

The remaining issue of vital importance to this Union, in 2004 and thereafter, is the influx of some 40 to 50 new full-time teachers at HFCC. Given the impact of two Voluntary Early Severance Programs, nearly 25% of HFCC's full-time faculty will be replaced in a two-to-three year period. Faculty new to HFCC may or may not come with an understanding of teacher unions. Most certainly they will not have an understanding of this Union. These new faculty may appreciate the wages, benefits, and faculty role in collegiate governance at HFCC, but they will not know of the 37 years of difficult negotiations - near strikes and strikes - that led reluctant administrators and Trustees to regard, compensate, and empower HFCC teachers as professionals.

These new faculty need to know that their very presence on this campus is due to Union, not administrative or Trustee, commitment and effort. Full-time faculty at HFCC once numbered 225. That number fell to and held at 205 for many years. By 2003, full-time faculty numbered 180. Local 1650 long recognized, and with great difficulty brought the College Administration and Board to recognize, that curriculum and program development, quality instruction, and collegiate governance require a critical mass of full-time faculty - and to recognize that the necessary critical mass of full-time faculty at HFCC far exceeds 180 teachers. As a result of our reopening the contract, Local 1650 secured full-time staffing levels amounting to 190 faculty by January 2004, 195 by January 2005, 200 one year later, and 205 by January 2007. Unchecked by such contractual language, full-time faculty lines at HFCC would have plummeted to well below 180.

In short, there is little that faculty enjoy at HFCC - be it wages, benefits, governance, or even full-time faculty lines - that has not required the collective action and struggle of the HFCC Federation of Teachers. Conveying this fact to new faculty - and conveying the fact that our professional lives and livelihoods are determined ultimately by decisions in the political arena - these are the two great challenges to which we must commit this Union in 2004 and beyond. We owe such a commitment to our predecessors, who risked their careers in championing teaching as a profession and establishing this Union. We owe it to all the faculty, who in the intervening years, built upon their early work and further enhanced the professional standing of HFCC teachers. Finally, we owe it to HFCC's new faculty, and we owe it to our profession. Ultimately, this College and this Union will soon be in hands of teachers now coming to the College. They will determine the future and success of both institutions. As educators and union activists, we have an obligation to provide them with the knowledge and the tools to succeed.

John McDonald

February 16, 2004