‘We should be the best in the Valley.’ State Center faculty union pushing for big salary boosts

Instructors at State Center Community College District are seeking hefty raises in a move they say is needed to stay competitive with neighboring school districts.

The State Center Federation of Teachers (SCFT) Local 1533 has been in contract talks with the central San Joaquin Valley community college district for almost a year.

Union leaders say the goal of the proposed raises, which would boost salaries for both part-time and full-time faculty by roughly 11% in its first year, is to stay competitive with College of the Sequoias in Visalia and other central San Joaquin Valley districts — with higher pay scales that SCFT say keep luring talented people away from State Center.

“We don’t expect to be paid on an LA or a San Diego scale,” said Keith Ford, the union’s president. “But we should be the best in the Valley.”

While contract talks have remained “mostly civil” at the table, Ford said, tensions are exploding related to a parallel effort led by the union to oust the district’s chancellor, Carole Goldsmith.

Goldsmith, who has led the district since January 2022, recently announced plans to retire from the role in September 2026.

The union, however, wants her gone much sooner. They’ve demanded Goldsmith step down immediately after passing a historic vote of no confidence in her leadership at a meeting Nov. 13.

Though these efforts are happening simultaneously, union leadership denies one has anything to do with the other.

“This is not a negotiation tactic,” Ford said. “This is about her not respecting faculty purview, and about her and her managerial style making it significantly worse to work here than it was before.”

Goldsmith has disputed the union’s characterization of the vote of no confidence in comments to the media, saying they’re “not uncommon” during bargaining.

She declined to comment on this story. 

State Center spokesperson Jill Wagner said in a statement that votes of no confidence are “symbolic, nonbinding, and have no governance effect on the District or its leadership.”

Following the union’s reproach, leaders with various local non-profit and faith-based organizations came to Goldsmith’s defense, pointing to accomplishments under her tenure including the opening of Fresno City College’s West Fresno Center campus.

The board has since then taken no reportable action on Goldsmith’s role — other than approving a retroactive cost-of-living-adjustment to her and other district leaders’ salaries at a Dec. 16 meeting. 

In the meantime, other faculty groups have also voiced rebukes of Goldsmith’s leadership, including the Academic Senate at both Fresno City College and Madera Community College.

To Ford, that says that the fight isn’t over.

“The depth of negative sentiment has not yet been fully plumbed,” he said.

“My hope is she’ll be gone in January.”

What are the sticking points?

SCFT represents over 2,300 instructors, librarians, counselors and other faculty members across State Center’s main campuses in Fresno, Clovis, Reedley and Madera. About two-thirds of their members work part-time.

The union has cited the district’s post-pandemic enrollment recovery that outpaced the state of California, as well as positive trends in student retention and degree completions over the past five years, as evidence of their faculty’s high quality of instruction — deserving of top pay in the Central Valley to match that.

On top of the roughly 11% pay increase the union is pushing for in year one of the contract, SCFT is seeking raises equivalent to the COLA plus 1% in years two and three of the agreement, according to the union’s treasurer Doug Gong.

That proposal is actually higher than what the union originally asked for in its first proposal to the district earlier this year — which is not something you often see in bargaining, Ford acknowledged. But, he added, extenuating circumstances permit this kind of move.

“The National Labor Relations Act and PERB are both pretty clear on the fact that if negotiations (take) a long time and new information presents itself, which is relevant, then you can change,” he said.

PERB’s General Counsel Felix De La Torre didn’t comment on specific details for this story, but generally confirmed in an email to Fresnoland that the “changed circumstances” principle has precedent in previous PERB cases and is a “defense against allegations of bad-faith bargaining,” including accusations of so-called “regressive bargaining.”

For SCFT negotiators, the changed circumstances in their case was news that College of Sequoias instructors got an additional 3.3% raise this year.

“Now, they’re doing even better than they were, in relation to us, than before. And if what we’ve been saying this entire time is that we want to be competitive with them,” Ford said, “we felt justified in increasing that ask.”

There are sticking points for the union outside of salary, too. That includes concerns over the current dual enrollment policy in the district, which allows high school teachers to teach State Center’s college courses to high schoolers enrolled in the program. 

Under existing agreements, those instructors aren’t considered State Center faculty that are bound to SCFT’s contract, Ford said. Instead, they’re compensated for their instruction by the K-12 districts where they teach.

“Anybody who teaches one of our courses needs to be in our bargaining unit and therefore subject to our contract,” he said. “Now, they can still be primarily a high school instructor, but when they’re teaching our class, they are our part-timer, and they would get paid by our districts. 

“And then they would also be evaluated by us,” he added. “Right now, we can’t evaluate them.”

Outside of compensation, the union is also demanding members be guaranteed the sole rights to intellectual property created for their courses and for lab instructors to be compensated fairly for the hours they work. Right now, for every hour they work, lab instructors receive pay for three-quarters of an hour, according to the union.

State Center declined to comment on any particulars of bargaining for this story. In a statement, Wagner, the district’s spokesperson, said State Center remains “committed to bargaining in good faith through the appropriate channels.”

“We understand that negotiations can create tension,” Wagner added, “and that heightened rhetoric can emerge as part of the process, but it does not reflect the reality of our organization. The State Center Community College District is strong and thriving, enrollment is at record levels, finances are solid and as a result we are adding both faculty and classified positions, and student success rates continue to rise.”

What about the vote of no confidence?

SCFT outlined its reasons for demanding Goldsmith’s immediate dismissal in a resolution, including concerns that her administration has “centralized power, demoralized the workforce, and led to significant financial and ethical turmoil.”

Madera Community College Academic Senate’s also passed its own resolution Dec. 5 declaring no confidence in the chancellor, a copy of which was provided to Fresnoland. Madera’s Academic Senate first voted to draft a vote of no confidence resolution in October, about a month prior to SCFT’s vote, Senate President Todd Kandarian said in an email to Fresnoland.

Madera’s resolution accuses Goldsmith of failing to consult the senate when required, resulting in “systemic breakdowns in faculty-administrator relations 10, loss of transparency, and damage to institutional effectiveness,” as well as attempts to retaliate against senate members.

At a Dec. 3 meeting, Fresno City College’s Academic Senate also voted to support SCFT’s vote of no confidence and took steps to initiate its own vote.

Regarding the union’s vote of no confidence, Wagner said it “does not change District operations, nor does it reflect the reality of our organization. 

“We believe the best way to resolve differences,” she added, “is through constructive engagement.

Supporters of Goldsmith in the community have also questioned what Goldsmith has done to deserve faculty’s criticism, while applauding upward trends in enrollment and the expansion of dual enrollment under her tenure.

Ford hopes these additional criticisms of Goldsmith’s leadership from non-union groups will resonate with the board.

“There’s definitely a chance,” he said. “We don’t plan on getting quieter.”