Governor Newsom proposes $200 million to fund healthcare for part-time community college faculty
Governor Newsom proposed $200 million in ongoing funding for healthcare coverage for part-time community college faculty in his January budget presentation released this week. The announcement came following a strong push by CFT members statewide urging the governor to take action on this issue.
“Governor Newsom understands that the best way to ensure a quality education for our nearly two million community college students is to invest in the health of part-time faculty,” said CFT President Jeff Freitas in a statement following the release of the budget. “We look forward to working with the governor and the legislature to ensure all part-time faculty have access to quality, affordable healthcare coverage.”
Thanks again to all of the CFT members who have been organizing for healthcare coverage for part-time faculty. Our efforts are paying off, but there is still much more work to do.
The governor’s budget proposal was also great news for public education as a whole, with a record $102 billion investment in K-12 and community colleges, a 5% increase in funding for UC, and a $2.7 billion commitment to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including $1.4 billion in immediate funding. CFT continues to urge the state of California to move without delay to use some of these resources to continue to get rapid tests and high quality masks into our schools as soon as possible.
Push is on for COVID paid sick leave in California
CFT members across the state continue to do heroic work, showing up for their students under incredibly difficult circumstances. And CFT leaders at the state and local level continue to press the state of California and school districts to provide necessary testing and high quality masks to ensure safety of both students and school workers.
The push is also on to ensure the state of California renews COVID paid sick leave for all California workers, including those who work in public education.
COVID supplemental sick leave is a vital public health tool, necessary for controlling the spread of the virus in workplaces, particularly in our schools. Governor Newsom stated the need for reinstating COVID-specific sick leave for workers in his January budget proposal and we are working with the governor and the legislature to deliver on this urgent need.
Let's honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by protecting voting rights
As we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend, let’s all remember that Dr. King was a champion of civil, labor, and voting rights. That commitment to voting came through loud and clear in his speech given before the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington in 1957, when he said, “So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind – it is made up for me.”
Unfortunately, our right to vote is being threatened throughout the country with some trying to change the rules for who can vote, who counts the votes, and who gets to declare the winner.
We join Dr. Martin Luther King III in celebrating the holiday honoring his father as a day on, not a day off. In coordination with the AFT we will continue to push at the federal level to help pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act to protect the right to vote.
Want to do your part? Take a moment to call Senators Feinstein and Padilla, urging them to keep pushing to pass the John R. Lewis Act.
More news in brief...
Biden administration to require health insurers to reimburse COVID tests. The Biden administration announced this week that starting Saturday health insurance providers will be required to cover eight free over-the-counter at-home tests per covered individual per month. More information here. The Biden administration also announced today that starting January 19 every home in the U.S. will be able to order four free at-home COVID-19 tests. The tests will be completely free—there are no shipping costs and you don’t need to enter a credit card number. Details at www.covidtests.gov.
Congratulations to UESF on winning a major COVID health and safety agreement. Yesterday UESF and other unions representing education workers in the SFUSD won a major agreement with their district that includes weekly testing and high quality masks at all schools and worksites for staff and students and ten COVID sick days for all staff. More here.
