The Guardsman Editorial: A Call to Action for Mayor Daniel Lurie

A Call to Action for Mayor Daniel Lurie

The Guardsman editorial board calls for your response to a matter that concerns the quality of life for all San Franciscans.

The decisions made on the city budget this year will set an example for the quality of education provided nationwide.

We call on you to protect the nation’s first tuition-free community college program – Free City College.

In your address, you stated that your inauguration marked the beginning of a new era of accountability and change at City Hall, that “above all else serves the people of San Francisco.” We just hope that statement remains true.

Last year’s budget reneged on a deal made with the Board of Supervisors for the first time, by taking away money allocated for the Free City program.

The budget proposal stated that the program’s funding would be reduced to $7.15 million by 2025-26 – less than half of what the voters approved. Clearly, this is not even enough to cover the average level of support for students.

The former Mayor’s office told Trustee Alan Wong that the situation regarding funding for Free City had changed, and if we didn’t like it, we could have a public conversation about it. Consider this the beginning of that public conversation.

The city had a 10-year agreement with City College. Regardless of unspent funds, that money should belong to students. And if the Free City Oversight Committee isn’t even authorized to use the funds to cover the costs of other enrollment-related roadblocks for students, then can you truly say our money is being left on the table?

City College is in a critical moment. It faces an ongoing budget crisis and a stagnation of state funding levels until it can increase enrollment. Meanwhile, the college has over a thousand students on waitlists who cannot enroll and continue their education because it lacks the funding to hire more faculty.

City College has its own budget deficit to deal with. So how can you, in good faith, take away from our money to deal with the city’s?

“How many more opportunities for economic and social mobility at City College will be overlooked by the neglect of this public institution?”

No doubt managing the city’s $800 million deficit requires difficult decisions, but to base funding for the college on outdated enrollment numbers and the recent spell of unstable leadership, when the Ocean campus facilities and Ingleside community are in the early stages of a renaissance, is at best a short-sighted band-aid to address the city’s more significant issues. 

This year is City College’s 90th anniversary. A time when our newly constructed state-of-the-art buildings are deserving of your presence and celebration. Now is the opportunity to set an example for our country, of how crime and homelessness can be healed with the support of community resources and workforce training programs. 

As mayor, you have the power to rejuvenate public interest in City College. Come stand in front of our buildings. Join in the anniversary celebrations. Call on organizations, corporations and philanthropists to assure that it will always be there when our people need it.

Across the six campus locations, from Bayview to Downtown, students can connect with the most representative cross-sections of San Francisco residents. In our classes are former retired police chiefs, immigrants from all over the world, unhoused people living in vehicles or homeless shelters with dreams of reentering the workforce, young engineers aspiring to be the next generation of NASA employees or tech entrepreneurs, and retired Bay area natives looking to stay active in their community. 

If Downtown First Thursdays is a strategy for improving downtown business through arts and culture, then the city requires a pipeline of homegrown artists and entertainers to keep this culture alive. 

In a Guardsman article about the loss of our Aircraft Maintenance Technology program, we showcased how United Airlines was forced to offer relocation bonuses to out-of-state mechanics who ultimately lived in RVs in employee parking lots before returning “home” with their earnings. How many more opportunities for economic and social mobility at City College will be overlooked by the neglect of this public institution?

This is why the college is the city’s most undervalued asset. This institution is already positioned to increase tax receipts and decrease the demand for social services.
According to an EMSI Burning Glass report from 2022, California community colleges have an annual economic impact of over $120 billion, a considerable portion of California’s total gross state product. The report also revealed that community colleges are among the state’s largest employers and that, for taxpayers, every dollar directed at supporting community colleges has a 100% rate of return over time.

City College is more than just a community college. It is the bridge to the future for a thriving economic and cultural metropolis. A pathway for thousands of SF residents to evolve and improve their skills and capacity for the challenges ahead. Without them, we could not continue to revitalize neighborhoods and businesses with the extraordinary creative talent that San Francisco personifies.

City College exists to serve the people of San Francisco. Interim Chancellor Bailey said it best, “City College is a mirror for this city.” 

 Therefore, a willingness to fight for City College shows a willingness to fight for the people of the Bay Area.

Only four years remain in the initial 10-year commitment made by the MOU. At this point, it may be renegotiated relative to the student demands of that moment.

To reduce the scope of this place that so many people call their home, would go against the grain of your nonprofit’s mission of fighting poverty and providing solutions for unhoused residents.

And to believe in City College, is to continue to believe that change is possible here in San Francisco. With your public support, City College of San Francisco can continue to serve as a free-access resource hub for residents of all demographics and walks of life. 

This is the future we envision. The Guardsman takes our role very seriously in safeguarding this institution. On behalf of City College and all people of San Francisco, we challenge you to honor the will of the voters and fight for our home. 

We are all passionate about this city’s evolution, and we are all in this together. But how you choose to serve our community is now up to you.

—
The Guardsman Staff