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Frustrated Community, Tech-College Staff Picket in Olympia

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Tuesday, March 26, 2019   

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Frustrated over a lack of investment from lawmakers, community and technical college staff from across Washington state are gathering in Olympia to call for action.

Members of the American Federation of Teachers of Washington will be in the capital on Wednesday for an informational picket to urge legislators to make community and technical colleges a priority in the state budget. A measure to invest $500 million in these institutions over the next two years failed in the Legislature earlier this year.

Natalie Simmons, a math professor at various community colleges in the Seattle area, said pay isn't keeping up with living costs.

"We show up every day. We do our jobs. We care about our students. And they know we're going to show up, and so they don't think it's important,” Simmons said. “They don't think that our inability to earn a living wage is important. And we need to start making our voices heard."

Simmons said a recent survey at South Seattle College, where she's worked for 17 years, found two-thirds of faculty have two or more jobs to make ends meet.

AFT Washington president Karen Strickland said a House budget would release money to expand access to education for Washingtonians, but it doesn't invest in faculty and staff at the colleges. Nearly 60 percent of postsecondary students in the state attend or graduate from community or technical colleges, but they receive less than 40 percent of the state's higher-education funding.

Judy Mattson is an instructional support tech at Lake Washington Institute of Technology. She said pay for staff at the state's community and technical colleges isn't keeping up with neighboring states. She also said the higher cost of living is pushing faculty out of cities, which drives up costs and makes it harder to recruit.

"We have positions that have been open that we can't find anybody to take those positions because the pay is so low,” Mattson said.

At the picket, Simmons said college staff will be urging lawmakers to fully fund their salaries. Currently, the state funds 60 percent and asks districts to find the other 40 percent, which Simmons said is siphoned from schools' other needs.

"Those are funds that are then taken away from things like maintenance of the facilities and cleaning and upkeep. And those are things that impact our students,” Simmons said. “One of my faculty colleagues the other day said she would just like to see the bathrooms cleaned in her building - and she's not joking."

More information about the planned picket is available here.


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