rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/cherish-our-community-colleges?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-cherish-our-community-colleges' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Massachusetts Community College Council - MCCC https://actionnetwork.org/groups/massachusetts-community-college-council-mccc https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/share_options/facebook_images/000/442/525/original/MCCC-ZOOM_SCREEN-1920X1080.jpg Cherish Community Colleges, Invest in the people who make them successful The community college system plays a vital role in ensuring that Massachusetts residents have access to higher education and career training. To maintain the quality of community colleges, it is imperative that the state immediately address the underfunding of community colleges reflected in the inadequate pay currently offered to faculty and staff. We the undersigned demand that Gov. Maura Healey instruct the Office of Administration and Finance to offer no less than an 8% cost-of-living adjustment plus a $500 equity adjustment to full-time faculty and professional staff members represented by the Massachusetts Community College Council, plus act to provide commensurate salary adjustments to contingent faculty and part-time professional staff. This action needs to occur immediately because: ·     As the cost of living continues to rise in Massachusetts, salaries at community colleges have eroded by more than 8% compared to their value three years ago. Many faculty and staff are leaving for better paying jobs. The MCCC has even received reports of faculty and staff who rely on their own campus food pantry because their salaries are so low, they cannot afford both childcare and food. ·     Massachusetts this year launched MassReconnect, providing cost-free access community colleges to residents over the age of 25. We support an expansion of this program to all residents. Community colleges are finding it impossible to hire and retain faculty and staff because of the low wages. Community college faculty in Massachusetts are paid 54.8 % less than community college faculty in California, the state with most comparable cost of living. Free community college means nothing if we can’t hire and retain the faculty and staff we need to serve our students. ·     This inability to attract and retain high quality staff has undermined the effort to build a more diverse teaching force across the community college system. ·     The staffing shortage is limiting programs available to students. One college had to turn away students from a nursing program because it lacked the full-time staff required to maintain professional accreditation. ·    The Massachusetts Legislature has access to more than $7 billion in reserve funds. Also, voters overwhelmingly approved passage of the Fair Share Amendment to generate approximately $2 billion annually for public transportation and public education—including public higher education. ·     Inflation is ongoing and happening right now; Our members are struggling to pay their bills right now; Our community colleges are losing faculty and staff right now. To avoid a crisis in our community colleges, we urge the governor to demonstrate leadership and act immediately. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/cherish-our-community-colleges