‘Intestine-Wrenching’: Metropolis School of San Francisco Lays Off 38 College, however Extra Cuts Might Be on the Means

Fewer students means fewer dollars to pay for teachers, and the college is now facing a $5.8 million deficit in its 2025-2026 fiscal year, according to The SF Standard.

Despite the start of new programs like Free City College, which offers free tuition to San Francisco residents, other factors soon compounded the existing drop in student population, including a statewide community college enrollment plunge during the pandemic. A CalMatters analysis found that, at 42 out of 116 California community colleges, more students left in the fall of 2021 than in the fall of 2020. That comprised a statewide loss of more than 300,000 students, which California tried to correct by spending an extra $120 million.

A coalition of unions has tried to pitch tax proposals to stem the gap, including Service Employees International Union 1021, which also represents City College of San Francisco workers and met with Mayor London Breed in February to propose new tax mechanisms to raise dollars for CCSF.

Bravewoman said those efforts are ongoing. Right now, it looks like the funding mechanism may be a parcel tax that’s shaped to affect new home buyers, as opposed to existing homeowners, that may raise as much as $45 million a year. Polling shows strong support for the measure, she said. The unions will soon begin the signature-gathering effort.

“We’re confident we’ll be successful at the polls,” she said.

In the meantime, the recent cuts are striking departments of all sorts, affecting everything from workforce training courses like aircraft maintenance and auto mechanics, to classes needed to transfer to four-year schools, like chemistry and English.

Pink slips — layoff notices — already have been mailed.

CCSF teachers and students block Frida Kahlo Way at the entrance to CCSF’s main campus to protest layoffs at the school, on May 5, 2022. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

At the May Day rally and march in San Francisco on Sunday, City College faculty who’d been served with pink slips spoke out.

Golnar Afshar, a full-time biotechnology teacher, told KQED she got her pink slip in February. Afshar is one of only three faculties in the biotechnology program. Now those students will have fewer classes available to complete their learning.

Most of Afshar’s students are older and changing their careers. They have bachelor’s degrees but need to fulfill hands-on training experience to get laboratory jobs — a highly sought-after career path in the Bay Area, which Afshar called “the Mecca of biotechnology in the world.” Now those students may have a tougher path.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen,” she said. “If the classes are canceled, the students will not be able to finish up.”

And for Afshar, who is 55 and was looking toward retirement in the next decade, “I’m just going to have to start looking for a job.”

Kathe Burick, a former dance instructor at CCSF, speaks outside Conlan Hall to protest layoffs at the school, on May 5, 2022. Burick was one of 10 faculty members arrested by SFPD at the protest. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
From left: Arlene Bugayong, Ella Rose, 6, and Sarah June Harris protest layoffs at CCSF, on May 5, 2022. Bugayong is a counselor at the school and received a pink slip, or layoff notice, earlier this week. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

KQED’s Annelise Finney, Haley Gray and David Marks contributed to this report.