اینترنت

برچسب: increases

  • UC regents appear to support future tuition increases, but are skeptical of bigger ones

    UC regents appear to support future tuition increases, but are skeptical of bigger ones


    Student walk up and down the Promenade to Shields Library at UC Davis.

    Credit: Gregory Urquiaga / UC Davis

    Top Takeaways
    • UC is likely to continue raising tuition for each incoming class and then freezing the cost for that cohort of students for up to six years. 
    • The rate of increase each year is based on inflation but has been capped at 5%. Regents appear opposed to increasing that cap.
    • UC is worried about federal cuts and uncertain state finances. Students are concerned about affordability.

    The University of California’s Board of Regents on Thursday indicated support for continuing to raise tuition for each incoming freshman class for at least several more years, though many regents appeared skeptical of hiking the maximum increase allowed each year. 

    Since the 2022-23 academic year, tuition has gone up for each incoming class of undergraduates, ranging from 3.5% to 5%. But the price was also then frozen for the duration of their enrollment, so long as they graduate within six years. The rate of increase each year is based largely on inflation, but is capped at 5%. 

    California residents who entered this past fall pay $14,436 in tuition and systemwide fees, not including some additional campus fees, living expenses and books, and will continue to pay that rate each year. For in-state freshmen starting this fall, their rate will be $14,934, about 3.4% higher. Out-of-state and international students pay significantly higher rates.

    When the regents approved the so-called tuition stability plan in July 2021, they agreed to reconsider it prior to the 2027-28 academic year. Most regents said they want to renew the cohort policy, describing it as a resounding success that has improved campus budgets and brought predictability to students and their families. In the past, tuition increases affected all students from all cohorts, whether freshmen or seniors, at the same time and the same rates, often raising costs in the middle of their education. 

    The regents did not take action Thursday to formally extend the plan and only discussed the policy. A vote on it may be scheduled as soon as November, officials said.

    A number of regents, however, appeared unlikely to support proposals from UC administrators to allow for even greater tuition increases, including one to increase the maximum tuition hike in a given year from 5% to 7%.

    “I think it’s remarkable the success we’ve had, and that’s why I want to continue it,” said Richard Leib, a regent and a past chair of the board. “But I also have the feeling that if it’s not broken, why are we trying to fix it?”

    UC staff said upping the maximum increases could help the system navigate budget problems, including federal cuts to research funding and state funding uncertainties. 

    The president of the UC Student Association, meanwhile, encouraged the regents to get rid of the policy altogether and keep tuition flat after the 2026-27 academic year.

    “In order to ensure that the university can be a space that is accessible to students financially, I strongly urge you all to not renew the cohort tuition model,” Aditi Hariharan, a fourth-year student at UC Davis, said during remarks to the board. She added that keeping the policy would threaten UC’s ability to enroll “a diverse range of students from all economic backgrounds.”

    In defending the plan, UC officials said Thursday that the policy has actually made attending UC less expensive for the system’s low-income students. 

    Shawn Brick, the system’s associate vice provost for student financial support, noted that the state’s Cal Grant program fully covers tuition and fees for qualifying students. Additionally, UC sets aside 45% of revenue generated from the tuition policy for financial aid. That, Brick said, has provided the system’s neediest students with additional aid for other expenses, such as textbooks, that was not previously available.

    Nathan Brostrom, the system’s chief financial officer, said the policy has also generated $375 million in new revenue for campus operations, which has been used to support faculty-to-student ratios and improve student services.

    At the same time, officials said the policy has not been a cure-all and that higher tuition revenue and state budget support have not kept pace with rising costs. 

    The UC staff on Thursday suggested three potential scenarios that would generate even more revenue from the tuition policy. One would be the proposal to increase the maximum annual increase to 7%. Another would be to add another increase, possibly 1%, on top of the inflation-based increase. The third option would be to reduce the amount of revenue that is set aside for financial aid, from 45% to 35%. 

    Most regents who spoke said they disapproved of the proposal to allow for annual increases as high as 7%. Maria Anguiano, the board’s vice chair, said she remains supportive of renewing the original policy, but added that tuition hikes of 7% “no longer feels modest.”

    State Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, an ex-officio voting member of the board, said increasing the cap to 7% would be a “very significant change” and suggested tabling the idea altogether. 

    “If we have an extraordinary circumstance where you all feel the need to increase tuition more than 5% in any given year, you should have to come back to this body and explain why,” she said. 

    Jay Sures was one of the only regents who appeared to support the proposal. He said federal changes and threats have created “true headwinds for this university system” and that there are “issues with what potential state funding could be going forward that could potentially pose a true existential threat” to the system.

    “What would happen if we did have a cap and our shortfall was such that we were in that sort of disaster situation? What are we going to be able to do if we put a cap on it today and we fall into that situation tomorrow?” Sures said.

    Before the UC staff brings an official proposal to the board, they plan to consult with incoming President James Milliken, who takes over on Aug. 1, said Brostrom, the chief financial officer.

    Janet Reilly, the board chair, said the current plan is to bring an action item to the board’s meeting in November, but added that could change.

    “I think that what you are hearing from this group is a lot of gratitude and much satisfaction with the program that we rolled out,” Reilly said. “But still there are questions to be answered.”





    Source link

  • Fresno teachers union rejects district’s offer of pay increases, expanded medical benefits

    Fresno teachers union rejects district’s offer of pay increases, expanded medical benefits


    More than a thousand members of the Fresno Teachers Association rallied in late May and vowed to strike if the union and school district fail to agree to a contract by Sept. 29, 2023.

    Credit: Courtesy of Fresno Teachers Association

    The Fresno Teachers Association swiftly rejected the latest proposal by Fresno Unified Friday because the offer does not raise teachers’ pay enough to keep pace with inflation and cost-of-living increases, union president Manuel Bonilla said.

    The district’s offer, which Superintendent Bob Nelson said is “above and beyond” educators’ requests, came only days ahead of Wednesday’s teachers union vote on whether to strike.

    “No new investments to reduce class size. No new investments to reduce special education (caseloads). A salary that doesn’t keep up with inflation. They want to cut our healthcare (contribution),” Bonilla said. “Those are the four remaining items we don’t agree on.”

    Both the school district and teachers union admit that they’ve failed to agree on “critical” items, such as salary and class size, but Nelson said there’s been “significant progress” with the district’s proposals, including, 19% pay increases over the next three years, expanded medical benefits for the rest of employees’ lives, even after retirement, and changes to class size overages.

    “I believe this is a historic proposal for… pay increases and health benefits like we’ve never seen before in Fresno Unified.“ Trustee Susan Wittrup said.

    But Bonilla said the Fresno Teachers Association disagrees with the district’s characterization of the offer.

    More pay on the table

    For salary, the district is now proposing 19% salary increases or 14% in raises and 5% in one-time payments — up from its previous offer of 11% raises.

    Over three years, that includes:

    • A 8.5% raise this school year
    • A 3% raise and a 2.5% one-time payment in the 2024-25 school year
    • A 2.5% raise and a 2.5% one-time payment in 2025-26

    The 3% and 2.5% raises for the next two school years are contingent on the school district having an Average Daily Attendance (ADA) of 92%, according to the revised proposal. The district’s ADA currently hovers around 92%, district spokesperson Nikki Henry said.  If the district doesn’t meet that threshold, the district and union would have to negotiate the raises again. If cost-of-living adjustments increase, so would the raises.

    The raises put teachers’ average salary at $103,000, Nelson estimated.

    Despite increases in recent years, teacher pay in Fresno and across California still failed to keep up with rising inflation, according to The Fresno Bee.

    Plus, starting pay and max salary for teachers in other Central Valley school districts outrank the pay of teachers in Fresno Unified, though the district is the largest in the region, Bonilla said.

    Based on Fresno Unified’s pay schedule, salary currently ranges from $56,013 for new teachers to about $102,000 for teachers with loads of experience, not including those with professional development.

    Based on a compensation comparison of 16 districts across the Central Valley, data provided by the union, the $56,013 for new teachers and $102,000 max salary rank at the bottom among the other school districts.

    Fresno Unified’s proposal also still comes with a cut to how much the district contributes to the healthcare fund, Bonilla noted. The health fund, in part, determines employee healthcare benefits.

    The suggested contribution cut saves the district money, which Fresno Unified will use to fund its proposed salary increases, Bonilla asserts.

    “They want to reduce the amount of money that goes into our health fund so that they can use some of it to pay for the salary increases,” Bonilla told EdSource.





    Source link

  • Number of California teaching credentials increases after two-year slump

    Number of California teaching credentials increases after two-year slump


    A teacher reviews students’ project notes on a computer.

    Credit: Allison Shelley for EDUimages

    TOp takeaways
    • California issued 17,328 new teaching credentials during the 2023-24 school year, an 18% increase.
    • At the beginning of this school year, district officials estimated they needed about 25,000 new teachers to fill their classrooms.
    • Enrollment in teacher candidate programs dropped by more than 3,000 teacher candidates between 2019-20 and last school year.

    California issued 18% more teaching credentials last school year, compared with the previous year, but education experts remain only cautiously optimistic. The uptick comes after two years of declines, a drop in enrollment in teacher preparation programs and apprehension about federal and state funding.

    During the 2023-24 school year, 17,328 teachers earned a preliminary or clear credential — 2,666 more than the previous year. This was the first increase in new credentialed teachers since 2020-21, when the pandemic shuttered schools, according to the recently released “Teacher Supply in California” report to the Legislature. 

    The increase offers a glimmer of hope amid an enduring teacher shortage. However, the new teachers may not be enough to fill the classrooms vacated by retiring teachers and to replace teachers with emergency permits and waivers. New threats to teacher preparation funding could also hurt program enrollment, erasing last year’s gains.

    “At a time when schools across the nation are facing teacher shortages, the growth in California’s newly credentialed teachers indicates that state investments in teacher recruitment are beginning to pay off,” said Mary Vixie Sandy, executive director of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. “While these findings are a bright spot for California’s education system, we recognize the significant shortage of qualified teachers that still exists and encourage those interested in positively impacting our state’s youth to consider teaching as a profession.”

    California has spent $1 billion since 2018 to recruit and retain teachers to end the state’s teacher shortage. State leaders directed the funding to financial support for teacher candidates, to grants for residency programs, and to make it easier for school support staff to earn a degree and a teaching credential.

    Some teachers aren’t properly credentialed

    Without enough fully credentialed teachers to fill all the classrooms, school districts have had to hire teachers on intern credentials and emergency-style permits and waivers. Last school year, 5% of the state’s teachers were not qualified to teach the classes they taught, according to state data. 

    California’s teacher supply has been in a constant state of flux since the Great Recession, which began in 2007, caused large-scale teacher layoffs. The number of new California teaching credentials was 14,810 in 2013, before beginning a seven-year climb to 19,673 in 2020-21. The Covid pandemic interrupted that ascent, resulting in two years of decreases that ended last school year.

    Although the numbers have increased, there still aren’t enough fully credentialed teachers to fill all of California’s classrooms. Before the beginning of this school year, district officials estimated they would have to collectively hire nearly 25,000 new teachers — 169 more than in the 2023-24 school year, according to the California Department of Education data. 

    Declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs could further impact the number of fully credentialed teachers in the classroom. Enrollment dropped from 41,978 in 2019-20 to 38,596 last school year. While new enrollment increased by 1,166 students between 2022-23 and last school year, there were 3,309 fewer continuing students.

    Federal, state funding in question

    Marvin Lopez, executive director of the California Center on Teaching Careers, expressed concern that both the recent freeze of federal teacher preparation grants and budgetary problems at California State University and the University of California could further reduce the number of teachers entering the field.

    The California Center on Teaching Careers had a full cohort of teacher candidates in its program at the beginning of the school year, but that number has dwindled in the last several months as federal funding became questionable, Lopez said. He suspects the students left when the financial incentives dried up, or after finding other, more affordable pathways.

    “Grant programs are designed to make high-quality preparation more affordable,” said Dana Grayson, teacher workforce director at WestEd. “If there are disruptions in access to that funding, I think we might expect that could impact the number of teachers that are able to get those credentials and complete their certification.

    “I think similarly, the programs themselves, if they have uncertainty in their funding landscape, it could lead to hesitancy, or an inability to be able to scale or sustain programming,” she said.

    Schools still in need of teachers

    The increased number of credentials will bring some relief to school districts that have struggled to fill teaching jobs in subjects like math, science and special education.

    More teachers also earned new credentials in shortage areas, such as math, science and special education, according to a presentation at the April meeting of the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

    The number of math credentials has increased over the last four years, with 1,247 new credentials issued last school year — a 15% increase over the prior year. The number of science credentials rose 7%, or 74 credentials, last school year — but only after four consecutive years of declines. 

    Nearly 3,500 teachers earned education specialist credentials last school year, compared with 3,051 the year before. Even with the increase, however, fewer new special education credentials were issued last school year than in any of the previous four years, except 2022-23. 

    Most emergency-style permits still going up

    But this year’s report on teaching credentials is not all good. Despite a decrease in some emergency-style waivers and permits, there have been increases in others, as well as in intern credentials, between 2022-23 and last school year:

    “I do think these (credential) numbers represent a promising uptick in getting more fully credentialed teachers in the state,” Grayson said. “But, I think sustainability planning is going to be really important to make sure we can support preparation programs, maintaining that affordability and access toward getting those full credentials.”





    Source link