500 signatures reached
To: Washington State Senators and Representatives
Don’t Cut Washington’s Community and Technical Colleges!
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating economic effects, community and technical colleges (CTCs) are imagining what budget cuts could look like at their campuses. That’s exactly the wrong thing to do. We need healthy, fully-funded public colleges in order to have a successful recovery from the pandemic and the recession.
During the last economic recession, our legislature made cuts to education as well as other social services that help Washington’s most vulnerable citizens. And it failed. CTCs provide accessible education to communities of color and low income students––who are both disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic––and are even more important now for rebuilding Washington’s economy.
We believe that if there is ever a time to invest in our CTCs, it is now. We call on Washington’s State Senators and Representatives to fully invest in our CTCs and end any plans for cuts.
Why is this important?
While high tech companies and corporations are profiting upwards of millions to billions of dollars during the pandemic, CTCs are preparing for the upcoming academic year with furloughs, laying off faculty, and discontinuing tenure tracks. Our CTCs and their faculty, staff, and students deserve better, especially our students of color. While long term investments centering racial equity support our CTCs and students, austerity will only hurt them.
Our CTCs have always been pillars of higher education in Washington state, but they are now even more important as our state faces the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences. Currently, 1 in 7 Washington workers are unemployed. As more and more workers are being pushed into unemployment, we need both a strong workforce and support for our most vulnerable communities who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
CTCs can be the key to recovery for both Washington’s economy and its communities. Investing in CTCs keeps CTC faculty and staff employed while providing the resources needed to train and retrain Washington’s students and workforce.
We urge state Senators and Representatives to consider CTC budgets from an equity lens, especially as CTCs provide more accessible resources to Washington’s communities of color.
45% of Washington CTC students are also students of color, and COVID-19 has already had a disproportionate effect on people of color. Systemically racist forces such as redlining, racial housing segregation, and limited resources on reservations contribute to higher rates of infection in these communities. Budget cuts due to COVID-19 would only affect these communities even more negatively.
Washington’s CTCs serve 60% of our students while only receiving 40% of the state funding for higher education. Our CTCs already receive less of a share of the state funding compared to private institutions. CTCs are not only an affordable source of education for communities of color as well as low income students, but they also provide the support they need through programs such as TRIO, diversity and multicultural programs, and academic and career counseling. We also know that when budgets are cut at CTCs, diversity programs are cut first. It’s already difficult to attend school, especially as a student of color, and these programs are vital resources for students to find a supportive community while in school.
Budget cuts will lead to both the defunding of these resources vital to student success and an increase in tuition, making CTCs even more inaccessible at an especially critical time. Our students need investment now more than ever.