Mayor Daniel Lurie’s budget is brutal; it’s impossible at this point to list all the crucial programs that the mayor wants to decimate to pay for tax cuts and more cops. But among the many counter-intuitive moves: The mayor wants to cut support for the Free City College program.
It’s yet another example of the city’s chief executive diverting money that was approved by the voters to other priorities.
It’s also a violation of a ten-year Memorandum of Understanding that San Francisco signed with City College in 2017.
Free City College has its roots in a 2016 ballot measure, spearheaded by then-Sup. Jane Kim, that slightly raised the transfer tax on properties selling for more than $5 million. The money, the voters were told, would pay for free tuition at City College for any needy resident of the city. It also covered cash grants to cover books, food, rent, and other expenses for students.
Under state law, any tax that is dedicated to a specific purpose requires a two-thirds vote of the people. A general tax, with no earmarks, can pass with just a simple majority.
So supporters of taxes for things like free City College tuition and affordable housing have no choice but to propose general taxes, and hope that the mayor abides by what the voters intended.
Former Mayor London Breed refused to spend money the voters approved for affordable housing; she put that revenue elsewhere. The late Mayor Ed Lee was also prepared to send the City College money into the General Fund.
But Lee and Kim cut a deal. The city would fund free tuition, and an oversight body would make sure it went to the right place (to the students, not to City College administration). Some $16 million in transfer tax money was designated for Free City College.
That’s worked miracles. Thousands of students have taken advantage of what many testified today was a life-changing program. It’s really cheap: Full funding at this point requires only about $11 million, City College officials told the Budget and Appropriations Committee today.
From the People’s Budget Coalition:
“Free City is the reason I can afford to attend City College,” said Angelica Campos, a sociology major and student-elected representative on the College’s Board of Trustees. “I am working, studying, and building a life in San Francisco, and even small costs can decide whether I can stay enrolled or need to drop out. These cuts tell students like me that our education is optional. But my future is not optional.”
Lurie wants to cut funding about in half, to $6.5 million.
Sup. Cheyanne Chen asked Aliya Chisti, a City College Board member, where the $6.5 million figure came from. Chisti, who is on the oversight board, said she had no idea; the Mayor’s Office didn’t say.
Most of the members of the Budget and Appropriations Committee made clear that they aren’t going for this. After more than an hour of public comment, Chen, Chair Connie Chan, and even Sup. Matt Dorsey, who generally goes along with Lurie, said they wanted Free City College fully funded.
That may well happen, but in the end, I have to wonder: Why did Lurie want to cut this in the first place—and why do we allow mayors to unilaterally defy the will of the voters?
