The NCCFT Executive Committee just received an urgent email from Ellen Schuler Mauk, president of the Faculty Association of Suffolk Community College, and director of our NYSUT Election District (ED 398).
Ellen writes:
Just got word from Chris Black this afternoon that community College base aid is still in jeopardy as the budget discussions in Albany have moved into high level discussions. The Senate is holding firm but school aid, higher ed funding and tax caps are still at play. If the budget is not resolved by Monday, June 28th, the governor’s proposal of an additional $285/FTE cut would probably be in his one week budget amendment or, if the legislature decided not to support this amendment, the state government could close down.
It seems like a game of chicken but the stakes are high for us, so we need to contact our state legislators once again. You can fax them a letter through the nysut website–
Go to www.nysut.org.
- Click on Legislative Action Center.
- Click on “Contact your Elected Officials.”
- Click “Fax your NY State Legislators.”
- Send the faxes to “Reject SUNY Community College cuts”, “PSC: Reject cuts to CUNY” and “UUP: Restore SUNY funding in state budget.”
Or, better yet, call your Assemblyperson and Senator at: 1-877- 255-9417 (NYS AFL-CIO ACTION LINE). When prompted, press 3 from your touch tone phone to be connected to the NYS operator. Ask the operator to connect you to your Legislator’s office.
Ask that they: Restore $154 million in cuts to SUNY and CUNY senior colleges and $75 million in proposed cuts to community colleges. If you know how much the cuts will affect your community college, tell them that as well.
We’re in the endgame and it’s critical that we contact our legislators now BEFORE the budget is resolved or all of us in higher ed could get hurt.
These cuts could mean an additional loss of 5.4 million dollars for Nassau Community College, deepening the budget deficit we have been struggling to address.
Please take a moment to contact your representatives in Albany. Let them know how important the college is to our community and how important it is to fully fund it.