SAN MARCOS — Months of debate on a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for classified staff have culminated in a Solidarity COLA Rally, as the Council of Classified Employees (CCE) and the district remain at odds over how to handle this year’s increase.

The rally begins with remarks at the Clocktower at 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 7, followed by a march to the Learning Resource Center (LRC) Plaza. Organizers say participants will hand out cans of cola with custom koozies, and the Palomar Faculty Federation (PFF) plans to attend and offer remarks in solidarity. Ahead of the rally, here is a brief look at what the dispute is, why it matters, and what’s happened so far.

What’s the dispute?
CCE says a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) was due at the start of the 2025–26 academic year under the contract. The article guarantees applying the full state-funded COLA in 2023–24 and 2024–25. For 2025–26, it specifies only that if the projected COLA is above 3%, the parties must meet by April 1, 2025, to negotiate an agreement effective on or after July 1, 2025. While it does not explicitly require an automatic pass-through at 3% or below, CCE argues that was the intent, and the 2.3% 2025–26 COLA should still be applied.

The district has cited rising health care costs, hold harmless funding status, and a lack of new state COLA dollars as reasons not to apply the increase, according to union summaries and board discussion. Hold harmless is a state “funding floor” that keeps a college’s revenue from dropping when enrollment is low; colleges at the floor generally do not receive new ongoing COLA money even when the state funds a COLA. Interim Vice President of Finance Chris Yatooma has also noted that medical premiums rose 13% for 2025–26. As of publication, the district has not issued a detailed public statement responding to the union’s claims.

Why it matters
Classified staff run many front-line services students use every day including financial aid, library/LRC, tutoring and instructional support, Disability Resource Center, health services, veterans services, outreach and student support, and campus safety dispatch. Decisions about their compensation and staffing are closely tied to how those offices operate and students’ access to services.

What’s happened so far
The regular Governing Board meeting on June 10 marked the start of the dispute. Public comments and constituent reports expressed concern the tentative budget did not reflect an expected COLA for classified employees.

“The modest 2.43% cost-of-living adjustment is not optional. It’s state funded. And it’s written in our contract,” said CCE President Anel Gonzalez in her constituent report. “When COLA is withheld, it erodes trust. It weakens our ability to retain and recruit, and, with a 56 million dollar ending fund balance plus ongoing savings from unfilled positions, there is no justifiable reason to deny classified professionals the raise.”

The dispute continued into the next meeting on July 8, with CCE urging the board to honor the contract before passing the final budget.

“We bargained in good faith, and in the final year of our contract we agreed that if the state COLA came in at 3% or less, it would pass through. That was a deal. That’s what we ratified,” Gonzalez said in her report. “In 2019 and 2020, and in 2022, we were also harmless, and we still received COLA. And now the district uses hold harmless as a reason not to honor COLA. That directly contradicts our own past practice, your own past practice.”

The COLA was expected to be applied at the end of July for the start of 2025-26. When no change appeared, the dispute escalated at the Aug. 14 meeting. Three classified employees — Jena Kruhmin, Krista Lough, and Cheryl Kearse — used public comments to express COLA concerns, citing cost and reserve figures, and both Gonzalez and PFF co-president Lawrence Lawson spoke about it in their constituent reports.

“You say we’re in a deficit and can’t afford it, but the numbers say otherwise. Paying COLA would cost less than a million dollars,” CCE Communications Officer Krista Lough said. “Meanwhile, the district has $54.2 million in reserves, and the tentative budget showed a plan to save another $1.8 million by not hiring classified staff.”

Gonzalez echoed the sentiment, pointing to the contractual obligation and the approximately $712,000 cost compared to the millions in reserves. Following the meeting, on Aug. 18 CCE filed a state labor complaint, PERB Case LA-CE-7031-E. The case remains open at the time of publication.

On Sept. 9, the Governing Board adopted the final budget with no COLA changes for classified employees.

In a public comment, Lough said withholding COLA is “essentially a pay cut under inflation,” citing possible

effects on staffing and services, and overall classified staff morale. The district has cited hold-harmless status and rising benefit costs as budget pressures in 2025–26.

“In the state budget for K-14, there is a COLA, there’s a 2.3% cost of living adjustment. But unfortunately, Palomar, because of where we’re at in our funding formula and where we’re at with our enrollments, we’re not eligible for this,” Yatooma said in his September budget presentation. “We’re in this whole harmless provision, where our enrollments aren’t high enough to get in the student funding formula, so we’re in hold harmless.”

The rally and march are the union’s next public action to keep the issue in view and raise awareness. Following this, the conversation returns to the dais at the Governing Board meeting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14. in LRC-436 and via Zoom on BoardDocs.