I’ve been on the FACCC BOG since 2020, chairing and co-chairing the Legislation and Budget Committee, coordinating the two FACCC Think Tanks on SCFF and AB1705 Advocacy, serving as Vice President, and currently serving as President.
I’m deeply committed to the legislative priorities of FACCC. I believe in our current fight to replace SCFF with a simpler, more stable and equitable model. We can create a funding model that more fully supports small and rural districts with subsidies for their higher costs of operations and uneven local infrastructures, while also maintaining the integrity and solvency of districts in urban and high cost of living areas. Instead, we can create a model based on incentives for growth and best practices rather than punitive measures for failure to reach arbitrary metrics. I’ve written papers, given presentations and webinars, testified and given public comment, and collaborated with other system partners on this issue. I’ve gathered data and, whenever asked, helped unions understand their SCFF position.
I believe in our priority to address the related problem of districts’ excessive reserves. I push for greater accountability to ensure we are good stewards of tax payer money. I gathered the data and wrote the rationale for last year’s successful reserves audit request. At the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, I gave testimony that highlighted the significant upward shift in reserve holdings as a systemic problem.
I support our math and other STEM faculty in their quest to regain control over their curricular offerings, specifically to reinstate prerequisite and pretransfer level math courses. Legislative curricular interference is a clear violation of our academic freedom, an accreditation requirement. AB1705 violates the majority of board policies and many collective bargaining agreements across the state. Many math faculty believe, through their direct work with students, that in order for students to truly accomplish their major-specific and career-specific goals, the necessary scaffolding to their math learning is essential. I coordinated the Think Tank on AB1705 in its initial year, and continue to support its efforts, most recently by presenting with FACCC colleagues at the California Mathematics Council Community Colleges conference.
I recognize the deeply embedded inequities in our profession and our system. We are still plagued with the remnants of intellectual and cultural elitism which often silences stories of pain and exclusion due to systemic racism and other institutional hierarchies. Privileges go unacknowledged and are reflected in our policies as they assume universal access and negligence to removing barriers. I was built in this system; I was a beneficiary of this system. But I believe my role is to facilitate the transformation of FACCC into a more welcoming, a more listening, organization through stronger commitments to DEIA efforts, more public support of the One Faculty model, and more outreach to single-college and rural districts to offer them alliance and center their voices in decision making. I believe I am a good listener. I believe I am a good facilitator. I’m honored by your consideration to let me continue to lead FACCC.
