Board of Trustees hopes to strike black gold

Oil extraction fee is a long shot that is worth backing, says Board of Trustees

By Darren Girard The Guardsman

Proposition 1481, the “Oil Extraction Fee to Rescue Higher Education,” was unanimously endorsed by the City College Board of Trustees at their open session Aug. 25.

Prop 1481 proposes a 15 percent fee on crude oil extracted in California, and is estimated to generate approximately $3 billion annually for California education, 48 percent of which will go directly to community colleges. Funds will be used to lower student fees, restore class cuts, and rehire professors laid off in the budget crisis.

So, what does this mean specifically for City College?

“It means a couple of millions of dollars, at least, for our colleges!” said an enthusiastic Jeffrey Fang, the Student Trustee who authored the resolution. Fang said he submitted the short notice add to the agenda, because “it’s the student’s voice speaking up.”

The importance of this proposition is being stressed not only because it affects students directly, but also because it has the potential to change the future of California’s education.

Students are all too familiar with the rising fees. Over the past 4 years, community college student fees have risen 38.5 percent, potentially facing more increases up to 77 percent. The current situation of the budget for education is astounding.

“The master plan is dead,” said Scott Lay, president of the California Community College League, referring to the Donahoe Higher Education Act signed into California law in the 1960s guaranteeing affordable higher education to all Californian residents.

“The idea that ‘everybody can go to community college’ has changed to ‘OK, you really need to pay,’”Jeffrey Fang said. “This proposition is designed to really restore the ‘dead master plan’.”

If this initiative succeeds, “It will be an unprecedented grassroots initiative,” Dr. Rodger Scott voiced to the board of trustees. He also said that it’s going to take more than the college’s endorsement to have a chance.

“Let’s be very clear about this, it’s an uphill climb,” said Fang. “We are still in the signature collecting process.The Bay Area goal is 100,000 signatures and the deadline is September 30.”

Fang emphasized that young voter participation is paramount for the effort to be successful.

“Right now we really need volunteers to spread out and get those signatures” Fang said. All eligible volunteers are welcomed.
City College Board of Trustees joins California Community College Association Board CCA/CTA, Student Senate for California Community Colleges, American Federation of Teachers and many others in endorsing Prop 1481.