CSU, professors reach tentative deal to extend contract

Labor peace between Cal State University administrators and professors is likely to continue into 2020, thanks to a tentative contract extension.

CSU administrators and the California Faculty Association announced the agreement Tuesday. If ratified, the two-year extension would keep an agreement in place through mid-2020 and provide for consecutive faculty pay raises that would begin to go into effect in 2018.

The twin raises are expected to result in some $120 million in new costs during the 2019-20 school year, CSU spokeswoman Toni Molle said in an email.

An extension could make it possible to avoid a near-future repeat of the faculty protests and threat of a strike that occurred prior to the two sides’ success in agreeing to a contract deal in the spring of 2016.

The CSU, however, is also in a position where anticipated revenues for the 2018-19 school year are not likely to be sufficient to cover the full costs of CSU operations. That’s nothing new for the CSU, but a similar situation resulted in the CSU trustees voting for a tuition hike earlier this year. It’s possible, although not necessarily certain, that another tuition increase may be in the 23-campus system’s future.

Ryan Storm, the CSU’s assistant vice chancellor for budget, said during the CSU trustees meeting that took place Sept. 19 in Long Beach that anticipated 2018-19 revenues may fall $134 to $215 million short of anticipated costs. That estimate did not include any new costs related to labor deals that were still being negotiated at the time of Storm’s presentation.

Storm said during the meeting that absent additional commitments of funding from the Legislature, CSU leaders would have to consider such options as halting additional funding to the system’s effort to increase graduation rates, other budget cuts, or another tuition increase.

CSU administrators’ budget planning has not yet reached the point where students would need to be formally notified of a prospective tuition increase, according to Molle. Trustees are scheduled to discuss financial plans again during their November meeting.

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