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One of Connecticut’s largest faculty unions won’t be participating in the retirement incentive program state officials are counting on to close a major deficit at the four regional universities and 12 community colleges.
The Connecticut State University chapter of the American Association of University Professors, commonly known as CSU-AAUP, announced Monday it fears the incentive plan, authorized in mid-December by the Board of Regents for Higher Education, will weaken academic and student support programs.
Louise Williams, president of the union that represents more than 3,000 faculty, coaches, trainers, counselors and librarians at the four regional universities, said the problem ultimately stems from insufficient state funding for a key segment of its higher education system.
“With adequate funding, it would not be necessary for the board to reduce the numbers of faculty and staff, shrink our system and put the quality of education we can offer our students at risk,” Williams said. “There is a great need for opportunities for more higher education in Connecticut, not less, and the people of our state deserve the best education possible.”
But Samantha Norton, a spokeswoman for system Chancellor Terrence Cheng, said Monday that while “it is unfortunate” CSU-AAUP won’t participate, two other unions are participating: Local 2480 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 85 workers in various non-faculty posts at the community colleges; and the State University Organization of Administrative Faculty, which includes 950 payroll, accounting, IT and administrative staff at the regional universities.
Three other bargaining units, including a key faculty union within the community colleges, haven’t announced any decision yet.
But not all faculty agree.
David Blitz, 74, a professor of philosophy and peace studies at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, is looking to retire after 34 years teaching in the state system.
Blitz, who just wrapped a four-year term as a non-voting faculty representative on the Board of Regents, called the union’s decision “misguided.”
“The AAUP has misunderstood from the beginning,” he said, adding that while the union has sought assurances of an across-the-board plan to refill vacant positions, the regents won’t and shouldn’t approach the issue that way.
“Each individual institution has a different challenge,” Blitz said. Some regional universities or colleges may need more rehires than others, depending on their status prior to the incentive program as well as the number of retirements announced this spring, he said.
Blitz added that for some staff, a $30,000 bonus could offer an important assist toward retirement security.
But the board has been scrambling since late fall to close a projected $140 million budget shortfall in the 2024-25 fiscal year, a gap equal to 11% of the entire system budget.
The regents endorsed a plan that includes raising tuition and fees 5% at colleges and universities earlier this winter; cutting at least $35 million from personnel costs; drawing $20.4 million from reserves, saving $13.4 million through miscellaneous cuts and efficiencies; and asking Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly to bolster planned state assistance for 2024-25 by $47.6 million.
And that last objective already hit a bump in February when Lamont didn’t include the extra $47.6 million in his proposed budget adjustments for the next fiscal year. Legislators still might opt to include some or all those funds, though, when it approves a final plan in early May.
To help cut staffing costs, the regents are offering incentives to full-time faculty, non-teaching professionals and management already eligible to retire. The application period opened Feb. 1 and runs until April 1. It allows employees to select either a flat $30,000 payment or an amount equal to 1% of their salary multiplied by their years of state service.
“CSCU’s retirement incentive program is a creative way for the system to mitigate its fiscal year 2025 budget shortfall without jeopardizing student outcomes,” Norton said. She added that “we do not expect the result of AAUP’s decision to have any significant impact on deficit mitigation.”
According to the chancellor’s office, about 550 employees are eligible systemwide to apply for a retirement bonus. Initial savings projections for next fiscal year include $45.9 million next fiscal year if half of those participate, $68.8 million with 75% participation and $91.8 million at 100%.
But final savings projections remain uncertain. That’s because the system almost certainly would have to refill some of those vacated positions, particularly among faculty, which would mitigate that savings.
Uncertainty around the refilling of positions isn’t just a problem for CSU-AAUP.
Local 1973 of the Connecticut Congress of Community Colleges — commonly known as the 4Cs — also has warned the regents that the system cannot afford to lose more positions.
Colena Sesanker, a philosophy professor at Gateway Community College in New Haven and political director of Local 1973, said Monday that the bargaining unit continues to discuss its concerns about vacancy refills with management and has made no final decision whether to participate.
But Sesanker added the community colleges already had absorbed five years of position losses due to attrition that saves the system nearly $35 million per year — before the retirement incentive program was authorized. And that estimate doesn’t include part-time faculty and support staff posts eliminated this fall and winter.
Despite the appeal of retirement incentives to some workers, state government has shied away from retirement incentive programs in recent years. They typically produce short-term operating savings but generally cost more over time, reducing pension fund assets and, thereby, what can be earned through investments.
But higher education officials say they have few other options.
Since the coronavirus first struck Connecticut in 2020, the governor and legislature have relied on hundreds of millions of dollars from two temporary sources — state budget surpluses and federal pandemic grants — to help fund higher education.
But most of that federal aid has been exhausted. And while Lamont’s budget office is projecting a healthy surplus of nearly $650 million, it is a far cry from the record-setting surpluses of the previous three fiscal years, windfalls that ranged from $1.7 billion to $4.3 billion, according to records from the comptroller’s office.
The Board of Regents’ system would see its base funding grow from $423 million this fiscal year to $440 million in 2024-25 under the governor’s budget proposal. But overall aid, including funds from temporary sources, would drop from $647.5 million to $516 million.
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