Amid significant financial pressures affecting higher education across Washington and the nation, Shoreline College has reached a collaborative agreement with its faculty union that prevents faculty layoffs and establishes a framework for addressing future budget challenges.
This agreement comes as the College works to close an approximately $4 million budget gap projected over the next three years. Shoreline has implemented a combination of operational reductions, hiring freezes, and workforce adjustments with a continued focus on minimizing impacts to students and preserving access to programs that support both transfer and workforce pathways. In evaluating potential reductions, the College relied on enrollment data and other operational factors to identify changes that would have the least impact on students.
Formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the agreement establishes a voluntary option for eligible faculty to reduce their workload ahead of retirement and/or provide advance notice of retirement plans. This approach generates both immediate and ongoing cost savings while preserving faculty positions and supporting continuity for students.
“Typically, the President is not in a position to work directly with the Union on issues like this. However, our collective bargaining agreement outlines the opportunity to work collectively on discussions around reductions in force. I genuinely enjoyed working with the Union team who were very conscientious, reliable, and creative in all of our discussions. They clearly had the goal to support faculty as is their role and were really trying to find solutions that would help us prepare for both current and possible future financial scenarios,” shared Dr. Jack Kahn, President of Shoreline College.
As a result of this agreement, the College has rescinded previously issued faculty RIF notices scheduled to take effect on July 1. While the College’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) outlines a required process for discussing faculty reductions, both the College and the union chose to go beyond those minimum requirements, extending conversations and working collaboratively to identify a solution that could better support faculty, students, and the institution as a whole.
This work comes during a period of exceptional strain for higher education. Across Washington, many community and technical colleges are making difficult reductions to faculty, staff, administrative positions, and academic programs as they respond to state budget pressures and broader institutional challenges.
This new agreement offers a more student-centered alternative by preserving faculty positions while also giving the College additional flexibility to continue evaluating and strengthening programs over time to meet changing student, community, and workforce needs.
“Our faculty’s active solidarity, as a labor union, enabled us to successfully negotiate alternatives to the College’s proposed layoffs. We appreciate that the College went beyond what our CBA required and engaged us in a good-faith collaboration to find alternatives that saved jobs, and opened up additional possibilities that faculty have long sought,” shared Eric Hamako, President of the faculty’s labor union, AFT Local 1950.
The MOU was developed through months of discussion and problem-solving between college leadership and faculty union representatives. It reflects a shared commitment to protecting educational quality while also responding responsibly to ongoing financial realities.
In addition to avoiding immediate faculty layoffs, this voluntary program provides a potential model for future collaboration should additional state-level reductions occur.
Shoreline College leadership also expressed appreciation for the engagement of faculty, staff, and community members throughout the process, particularly those who participated in recent Board of Trustees discussions.
“This collaborative work between the union and college is an outstanding example of people coming together to support our educational efforts in challenging times, said Kim Wells, Shoreline College, Board of Trustees Chair.
While this agreement represents meaningful progress, it does not eliminate the broader financial barriers facing the College, including federal and state funding challenges and declining enrollment trends. Shoreline continues to make difficult decisions across the institution, including reductions in other areas, as it works to address ongoing budget pressures and preserve student access, educational quality, and long-term sustainability. However, this effort demonstrates what is possible when institutions and their employees work together to find thoughtful, student-centered solutions.