Custodians, lab technicians and other Contra Costa Community College District (4CD) staff members last week held a protest against the hefty salary increases the district board awarded its executives.
Members of Local 1, the union representing nearly 500 classified employees who work for the district that includes Contra Costa, Diablo Valley and Los Medanos community colleges, packed the 4CD’s board meeting in Martinez on June 11, chanting and waving signs as the board unanimously approved pay increases of nearly 8% for some of the district’s highest-paid leaders. Board member John Marquez, who represents the Richmond area, was absent.
“This is not about resentment. This is not about saying our executive team doesn’t deserve recognition for their work. What hurts is not that they are receiving raises, it’s that we are not,” Local 1 president Jeanie Smith told the trustees.
The union is currently negotiating salaries. Last year, staff received a 2% off-schedule payment — a one-time lump sum equivalent to 2% of their annual compensation. However, the payment did not increase base salaries and will not impact future raises or retirement benefits. The outlook for pay adjustments for the upcoming year remains uncertain, union members told Richmondside.
However, the pay for the chancellor, college presidents and other executive positions is now set as part of their three-year contracts. Of the 10 contracts approved last Wednesday, Contra Costa Community College Chancellor Mojdeh Mehdizadeh will make the most, $447,840 annually; Contra Costa College President Kimberly Rogers will make $296,784 a year; and Contra Costa’s executive vice chancellor of administrative services, Micaela Ochoa, will earn $321,780 annually until June 2028.
Jeffrey Michels, 4CD’s vice chancellor for human resources, told Richmondside this week that he is hopeful the district and union will find a middle ground, where employees will receive modest pay raises the district can financially support. He could not disclose any details as negotiations are ongoing but did say whatever the district can offer is incumbent on the state’s budget (which will be approved this month). He anticipates the union contracts will be approved in October.
“We’ve reached an agreement every year. We haven’t been at an impasse. We haven’t had labor unrest. We don’t always see eye-to-eye immediately (but) we’ve had a very long track record in this district now of collegial labor relations,” Michels said.“We’re pretty productive in terms of fixing things that need fixing, but again, money is always the hardest issue.”
Colleges need more custodians: basic needs coordinator laid off at San Pablo campus
Brian Williams, vice president of Local 1, said it’s demoralizing to see executives get significant increases because 34 positions were cut and two staff members were laid off earlier this year. There’s also a custodian shortage and they are being told there may not be enough money for a raise beyond their step increase this year.
The district’s tentative 2025-26 budget states the district will spend 1.2% more on step and column salary increases, which are based on an employee’s years of service and qualifications and it will spend 4% more for health benefits.
He said a year’s worth of the additional executive pay raises, $165,000, is equal to the annual salaries of two custodian positions he said the district really needs.
Williams is a biology lab coordinator at Contra Costa College, which means he sets up labs and ensures both instructors and students have all the resources they need.
“I honestly have nothing against (the executives). That’s important work. But you know, so is cleaning the campuses and setting up for the labs and all the things that actually directly work with our students,” Williams told Richmondside. “I’ve been there for both shortages of presidents and shortages of custodians — and shortages of custodians is a lot more dire.”
The district has 61.5 custodians budgeted for the upcoming school year. Jennifer Ortega, director of communications and community relations, said the district and union are assessing custodial staffing levels as part of the negotiations.
Hope Dixon, the basic needs coordinator at Contra Costa College’s Compass Center and a member of Local 1, told the board last week she can’t understand why leadership received raises when her coworker, a manager who helps students get food and housing, as well as tutoring assistance, will be laid off.
“As of today, nobody besides that manager has spoken to me about the future of basic needs, and our entire campus is wondering how tutoring will continue without anyone dedicated to that,” Dixon said. “Our students…are hungry, they are homeless, and they are still attending classes. They need staff, faculty and administrators who are here in this work with them.”
Dixon had recently told Richmondside that nearly 1-in-5 students at Contra Costa College will experience homelessness in the next 12 months. And the demand for services is constant. More than 1,000 students requested housing, food, transportation or other resources in the spring of 2025. The center serves breakfast and lunch and distributes groceries through its market five days a week.
College district will use $3 million of its reserves to balance budget
The Contra Costa Community College District’s 2025-26 budget is flat compared to last year’s spending plan. This year, the district’s estimated budget is $258 million, compared to $255.7 last year. The increase in expenditures, without additional funding from the state, means the district will pull $3 million from its reserves to balance its budget.
All three colleges are facing deficits in their tentative 2025-26 budgets.
Michels said the budget shortfalls are the results of a change in the state funding formula, known as the student centered funding formula, which passed in 2019.
Under that formula, funds are distributed based on a base amount for enrollment. Districts can receive supplemental funding for the number of students receiving financial aid and an additional allocation for positive student outcomes, such as graduation rates.
“If they don’t give us cost of living adjustments, they are cutting our ability to pay for everything.”
Jeffrey Michels, 4CD’s vice chancellor for human resources,
“The student-centered funding formula discriminates against the Bay Area,” Michels said. “It discriminates against students who live in high rent areas where they may not meet federal financial aid eligibility requirements, but they’re still living under the poverty line.”
The funding formula is a big change from how some community colleges, including 4CD, received state dollars. Previously, the district received a certain anount based on enrollement, but would see more money based on cost of living adjustments. Since the new policy was implemented, the district has received the same funding level as the 2017–18 fiscal year.
If the district wants to see more money, it will have to boost enrollment, graduate more students and service more students who meet federal financial aid eligibility requirements.
“The pessimism that is being voiced by some is linked to this idea that we are not getting new ongoing revenue under the current (state) formula,” Michels said. “We have fixed costs that increase (like healthcare and pensions). So if they don’t give us cost of living adjustments, they are cutting our ability to pay for everything.”
In the past year alone, what the district must pay for insurance increased by 13.2%, utilities by 9% and pension costs by 4.3%, according to budget documents.
Michel said he is hopeful political lobbyists will be successful advocating for the student centered funding formula to be changed.
4CD’s executives should lead by example, board member says
The union’s Smith last week told the board the money excuse is understandable, but unfair.
“Classified professionals are once again being left behind,” Smith said. “Let’s be honest about who is being prioritized and who is being told to wait.”
Raises for executive positions are exclusively performance-based, as opposed to raises for certified employees and educators, which are based on whether funding is available. Board member Rebecca Barrett, who represents Ward 3, which includes the Concord area, said during last Wednesday’s meeting that while the leadership team has done an exceptional job filling vacant positions and increasing student enrollment, among other things, they also have the responsibility of leading by example.
“Sometimes in leadership leading from the front means that when the time comes, sometimes we are going to lead by example and tighten our own belts as leaders,” Barrett said. “Particularly when we’re going to be asking some of our lowest paid employees to accept the same.”
Barrett made eye contact with the chancellor as she spoke. She noted that district leadership has tried to be transparent and clear about budget constraints, and while there is no need to panic, classified staff shouldn’t expect big raises in the next few years.
Board president Andi Li disagreed with Barrett, noting that while it’s a balancing act, having a high quality leadership team makes a world of difference and can even save the district money in the long run, so it’s worth the investment.
Mehdizadeh, who has worked for the district for 37 years, started as a classified employee, working as an assessment center technician at Contra Costa College, a position that no longer exists. She did not make any public statements during the meeting regarding her pay increase, but told Richmondside afterward that she agrees with Barrett.
“I completely understand and relate to the incredible work that our classified professionals do and the impact that they have on the lives of our students and our communities,” Mahdizadeh said. “And so certainly I understand that and recognize the importance of leading from the top, recognizing that I too, worked through those ranks.”
