Board creates fund, reserves $9 million contingent on transfer tax to provide free City College tuition

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Sept. 20 established a city-administered fund intended to make City College tuition free for San Francisco residents and approved a contingent supplemental appropriation of $9 million to seed the effort.

Supervisor Jane Kim, who sponsored the ordinance, told the board the measure is designed to use projected revenue from a proposed increase in the real-estate transfer tax to restore tuition-free City College for residents, employees of City College, the city and county of San Francisco, and San Francisco Unified School District staff. "Making City College free today for all San Francisco residents would cost $12,900,000," Kim said during her presentation.

Kim said the ordinance also included a $9 million supplemental appropriation that would be held in reserve and become available only if voters approve the transfer-tax measure in November. "The supplemental is, of course, contingent on the passage of Proposition W," she said during introductions of new business.

The board unanimously approved the ordinance on first reading with an amendment after Kim moved to delete one section that designated the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families to provide administrative support for the oversight body. Kim said the deletion was intended to allow further discussion of which city entity should provide that support and that the department providing administrative support would be specified in the mandatory memorandum of understanding between the city and City College. "We are continuing our discussions regarding…appropriate administrative support," Kim said during the committee report.

Kim also introduced a supplemental appropriation ordinance to place $9 million into the fund: $6 million for program costs to begin free tuition in August 2017 and $3 million to build a reserve to protect the program in years when transfer-tax revenue might be below projections. She described the objective as creating at least one year's cushion to provide program stability as City College enrolls students in April 2017. "The objective is to have at least one year of funding cushion for this program built into the fund that will provide stability to students," Kim said.

The board took two procedural steps before finalizing the ordinance: Kim moved to rescind the earlier vote so she could make and secure a second on the targeted amendment; the motion to rescind and the amendment were agreed to without objection, and a final roll call approved the ordinance as amended. At roll call the clerk recorded 11 ayes and the ordinance passed on first reading as amended.

The supplemental appropriation language and the $9 million set-aside were introduced and publicly announced; the appropriation itself is contingent on voter approval of the transfer-tax measure and will not take effect unless and until the tax increase becomes effective.

Votes at a glance - Item 3 (ordinance establishing the San Francisco City College enrollment fee assistance fund, as amended): Passed on first reading, 11-0 (unanimous). The board also introduced a supplemental appropriation to reserve $9,000,000 contingent on passage of the transfer-tax measure.

Why this matters The ordinance and the contingent appropriation formalize the city's plan to use anticipated transfer-tax revenue to resume tuition-free community college for city residents, reversing a decades-long lapse in universal tuition support. The action also leaves open which city office will provide administrative oversight and creates a financial cushion intended to stabilize the program against fluctuations in tax revenue.

Speakers - Jane Kim — Supervisor, sponsor of the ordinance (government) - Norman Yee — Supervisor, co-sponsor (government) - City Clerk (staff)

Authorities - Proposition W (real-estate transfer tax increase) — referenced_by: ["free-city-college-fund-ordinance"]

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