• Office: Community College Board
• Election Date: November 5, 2024
• Candidate: Ben Kaplan
• Due Date: August 26, 2024
• Printable Version

Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the November 5, 2024 election! GrowSF believes in a growing, beautiful, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous city delivered via common sense solutions and effective government. Our work includes running public opinion polls to understand what voters want, advocating for those changes, and ensuring that the SF government represents the people.

The GrowSF endorsement committee will review all completed questionnaires and seek consensus on which candidates best align with our vision for San Francisco.

This questionnaire will be published on growsf.org, and so we hope that you use this opportunity to communicate with voters.

Please complete this questionnaire by August 26, 2024 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.

• Your Goals
• Executive experience
• The Issues
  • Budget
  • Accreditation
  • Chancellor
  • Curriculum
• Personal
• Thank you

Your Goals

We'd like to get some details about your high-level goals and how you intend to use your elected office to achieve them.

Why are you running for Community College Board?

As a higher education advocate, speaker, and author of How to Go to College Almost for Free, I've devoted the past 25 years of my life to making college more accessible and affordable. I'm also a current adult returning student at City College of San Francisco.

I'm running for the Board of Trustees because City College holds the key to solving San Francisco's toughest challenges — but we need a plan of action now.

City College was originally founded to provide a pipeline of skilled workers. But these days, the college doesn't produce nearly enough future police officers, nurses, drug counselors, or mental health professionals. The result? San Francisco has a critical worker shortage that is compounded by City College's plummeting enrollment. It doesn't have to be this way.

What is your #1 policy goal?

I've created a five-point plan to get City College back on the right track. The first point of the plan is to "Boost City Career Pipelines." Simply put, let's create pipelines of critical city workers like police officers, drug counselors, and mental health professionals.

Case in point: The California legislature has made it clear in AB89 — which passed in the aftermath of George Floyd protests — that California community colleges are now on the front lines of staffing well-trained police officers. Because all new police officers in the state will be required by law to have a minimum of an associates degree in Modern Policing, City College must work closely with City Hall and the SFPD to create a new police officer pipeline. This should be a priority not an afterthought.

How will you build the coalition and political capital to enact your #1 goal?

That doesn't happen overnight: It starts by listening to many key stakeholders in City College including Associated Students Executive Council Leadership, Academic Senate, Classified Senate, SEIU 1021, AFT 2121, Administrators Association, Department Chair Council, and the Chancellor's Cabinet. Beyond the walls of City College, coalition building needs to happen with other educational institutions including the San Francisco Unified School District (which can send more students to City College), the UC and CSU school systems (which help provide positive outcomes for City College students who transfer), and San Francisco City Hall (which can award jobs that help fill critical worker shortages).

Will the power of the office of Community College Board be enough to achieve this goal?

No. The City College Board of Trustees isn't the managers or administration of City College. But what we can do is shine a light on pressing issues and emerging opportunities and then help provide direction for the professional managers to act upon.

What are your #2 and #3 policy goals?

The second point of my five-point plan is to "Attain Financial Security." Let's ensure annual balanced budgets and ample financial reserves equal to 2 months of general operating expenditures—the amount recommended by the California Community Colleges chancellor as well as the widely respected Government Finance Officers Association.

The third point of my five-point plan is to "Ignite School Enrollment." Let's spark more enrollment by tailoring outreach to each type of student — from degree candidates to ESL students to adult lifelong learners. City College's current marketing is a "one-size-fits-all" approach—send a course catalog in the mail—that isn't likely to grow enrollment.

Will the power of the office of Community College Board be enough to achieve these goals?

It's a good place to start. But ultimately, we need more buy-in from the City College administration (especially the new chancellor) and elected and appointed leaders with San Francisco city government.

Executive experience

Please describe your experience running or governing large organizations, managing teams (including hiring, firing, and performance management), driving cultural change and clear communication throughout all levels, effective financial management (budgets, reporting, audit, etc.), and any other relevant experience.

I've served as the CEO of a global marketing agency with 200+ team members—including oversight for managing teams, driving cultural change, and clear communication. One of our agency's core areas of speciality is marketing and enrollment growth for institutions of higher education, which is one reason why I'm so knowledgeable on the issues facing City College. I've also served as an adviser to leaders running companies of 20,000+ people.

Please describe a time when you had an underperforming subordinate and how you handled the situation, including (and especially) how you were able to increase their performance.

Note: Please remember that this questionnaire will be public, so do not include any personally identifiable information.

Over a 25-year career, that's happened more than a few times. I think the first thing to ensure is that the person is set up for success. Are there clear roles and responsibilities? Is it written down how success will be measured? Has the individual been given adequate training? Once those fundamentals are strong, my focus shifts to the individual. What is the cause of the lack of performance? Can those causes be rectified? Typically, my team and I would put in place a performance improvement plan (PIP) with specific action steps and metrics to get the person back on track.

Please describe a time when your organization faced an extreme challenge and how you got the organization through it.

During the Covid pandemic, we had multiple clients with severe financial hardship that, in turn, affected the revenues that our company could expect. We worked with each client to come up with creative solutions—including alternate service delivery and deferred payment plans—to ensure that both sides could weather the storm in a win-win partnership.

The Issues

Next, we will cover the issues that voters tell us they care about. We hope to gain a better understanding of your policy positions, and we hope that you use this opportunity to communicate with voters.

Budget

Please describe the current budget allocation of CCSF.

There is a $55M budget discrepancy at City College—the huge $55M million gap between the college's state-funded budget and the total number of enrolled students.

Under California's "Student Centered Funding Formula" (SCFF), community colleges receive state funding based on actual student enrollment and success. But due to a special "Hold Harmless" provision enacted during the pandemic, City College has received funds solely based on its 2017-2018 enrollment—even though its enrollment has since plummeted.

In your own words, please describe the nature of City College's budget situation. Is it in crisis? Where does it fall short of what students need? What are the reasons for those shortfalls?

City College has received the following funds for non-existent students:

• 2018-2019: $5.1M in excess funding
• 2019-2020: $7.4M in excess funding
• 2020-2021: $9.7M in excess funding
• 2021-2022: $11.7M in excess funding
• 2022-2023: $10.1M in excess funding
• 2023-2024: $10.9M in excess funding

Despite $55M in extra resources, City College has consistently run budget deficits and held the lowest financial reserves of any California community college.

One reason for City College's budget concerns is declining enrollment. What will you do, as a Board of Trustees member, to boost enrollment?

City College needs to add about 7,000 students quickly — which would remove it from "hold harmless" funding minimums and allow budgets to grow again. We can reignite declining enrollment by tailoring outreach to each type of City College student — instead of the "one-size-fits-all" approach that is now employed.

Currently, the college sends a course catalog in the mail to all SF residents instead of tailoring different outreach to each type of student (different outreach for prospective dual-enrollment high school students, four-year transfers, ESL students, or vocational learners).

I've worked in higher education enrollment growth for 25 years and the current approach is not designed to increase enrollment. Think of it this way: By thinking of City College not just as a single institution but rather an umbrella of programs designed to appeal to the diverse needs of very different types of students, we can create strategic marketing initiatives for each of those program types and grow much faster as a result.

In your opinion, does the "Free City" program, which provides free tuition to San Francisco residents, meaningfully impact City College's budget? If so, how? If not, why not?

The Free City program is relatively small (millions of dollars) in the context of San Francisco's $16 billion dollar budget. The issue has been that we haven't connected the success of the Free City program to outcomes for the City. If we did, we'd realize that the Free City program is a good investment in San Francisco's future. We should be proud that San Francisco was the first city to make college free and we should fight to keep the program intact.

Accreditation

City College faces a loss of its accreditation, putting the education of its students at risk. In your view, why hasn't the accreditation crisis been solved?

We need to achieve permanent financial stability by ensuring annual balanced budgets and ample financial reserves. The California Community Colleges Chancellor has been clear that all state community colleges are expected to have two months' worth of reserves on hand. By flaunting this guidance (City College has the least amount of reserves of all 72 community college districts in the state), we attract increased scrutiny on city college that has led to a host of other accreditation issues — all focused on the practices of the Board itself.

What needs to be done to solve the accreditation crisis?

We can remove accreditation risk once and for all by following state guidance to the letter. The state holds the purse strings and so we've got to match the recommendations of the state. Notably, the Board of Trustees needs to function like a Board of Directors and realize that it plays an important role but isn't the administration.

What role does the Board of Trustees play in solving this?

Set a clear direction and priorities. Then get out of the way of the professional managers and hold them accountable.

Chancellor

In your opinion, is the Chancellor doing a good job?

The prior Chancellor who recently left City College was doing a fairly good job with tasks like bringing forth a balanced budget. I would have liked to have seen him stay and also provide much needed stability in the role. However, the next Chancellor should have a broader skill set, including prior experience specifically with growing higher education enrollment. Experience as a responsible fiscal manager should be table stakes that we build on with additional needs for City College.

As a Trustee, how would you ensure the Chancellor is focusing on the right issues?

First, we need to pick an outstanding Chancellor by aligning our selection criteria with the main tasks we need to accomplish. Next, we'd need to ensure we have adequate tracking in place to measure progress toward those objectives.

Key selection criteria for a new Chancellor include:

• Strong financial management experience including balanced budgets, ample financial reserves, and improving administrative efficiency and effectiveness.
• Direct experience with growing student enrollment, including creating specific outreach and marketing programs for each type of community college cohort.
• Clear examples of improving student outcomes including the expansion of university partnerships, job placements, and lifelong learning options.
• Community building experience including making community college branch campuses key hubs in the local community.

How has the current Board of Trustees helped or hindered the Chancellor?

The current Board of Trustees has been a hindrance. The chief criticism from the state accreditation board has been that the City College Board has interfered with the responsible administration of the college. In its January 2024 accreditation warning letter, the state's main points of concern all centered on the Board's interference with the sound management of the school.

Additionally, in the Board of Trustees evaluation released on June 28, 2024, key stakeholders at City College rated the Board a score of "2" (on a five-point scale, with 5 being best) on understanding its roles and responsibilities, a "2.6" on adequately monitoring progress of the school, and a "2.1" for ensuring planning and effective resource allocation processes. That dismal evaluation is nowhere near good enough and we should demand more.

Should the Board of Trustees retain or fire Chancellor David Martin?

That ship has sailed. Martin, who was CCSF's ninth chancellor in eight years, decided to take a job at Sierra College in Placer County. We should have fought harder to retain him.

Curriculum

What can the Community College Board do to improve student performance at City College?

Special attention must be paid to "blockers" that prevent students from advancing to the next phase of their education journey. Case in point: City College's typically long waitlist for introductory English. With most English 1A course sections offered for Fall 2024 already full—and the ones still open only available at unpopular times—waitlists are growing and will likely soon number in the hundreds of students.

This is especially problematic for student outcomes because English is a prerequisite for many City College degrees—including all liberal arts, nursing, radiology, and fire science degree programs. Even worse for students, the course is also required to transfer to a four-year university.

Are students graduating with the skills necessary to obtain a good job? Why or why not?

City College of San Francisco needs to make a renewed effort to create partnerships with local employers and workforce development agencies to improve student outcomes.

Case in point: UC San Francisco (UCSF) is the second-largest employer in San Francisco and the fourth-largest in the Bay Area—with clinical services through UCSF Health generating more than $7 billion in annual revenue and employing approximately 18,000 staff that support 41,000 annual patients.

At the same time, UCSF Health faces a critical worker shortage: With the recent acquisition of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center to expand UCSF physical capacity, UCSF doesn't currently have enough workers to support all of those new hospital facilities. That's why UCSF Health recently launched a Career Pathways initiative to train 2,000 new workers to be medical practice coordinators, medical assistants, radiology technologists, phlebotomy technicians, and more.

City College is indeed among the participating institutions in this program but why not get City College students to the very front of the line? Why not specifically target well-paying jobs in healthcare beyond this program that support our overall goal of improved community health? We could create "work + study" initiatives that allow students to earn a living while being trained —thereby helping local hospitals fill open roles faster even as we remove the "earn-or-learn" dilemma for low-income students.

What is the City College curriculum lacking which the Board could rectify?

Currently, City College has six community college-baccalaureate partnerships that specify a sequence of courses that are easily transferable to partnering colleges. But why not create partnerships among all or most of the colleges in the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU) systems? What about extending these partnerships to some of the 150 private colleges in the state?

This effort has even greater potential importance in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's ban on affirmative action in higher education. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education hosted the National Summit on Equal Opportunity in Higher Education to discuss expanding access to postsecondary education. The key recommendation: More close partnerships between community colleges and four-year institutions are needed to advance people of color, first-generation, and low-income students in the admissions process.

Similarly, a report from Common App found that transfer students are more plentiful from primarily White and high-income families. We can do more to increase these numbers for underrepresented students.

One important note: A much larger share of recent high school graduates enroll in California community colleges compared to other states—despite the fact that California is near the bottom when it comes to enrolling students in four-year universities. This transfer process, therefore, can help boost the number of bachelor's degree holders in the state and strengthen their economic security.

Research has shown that students who successfully transfer are increasingly likely to do so within two years of initial enrollment—about 1 out of 3 students who declare the intent to transfer do so in this time frame. Recent data shows that students who transfer to UC schools are more likely to start as dual enrollment students, take higher unit loads, and complete transfer-level math and English in their first year. We need more two-way agreements between City College and target schools and must give all students the guidance and support to transfer in a timely manner.

Personal

Tell us a bit about yourself!

What is your professional background?

What distinguishes me from other candidates is that I'm among the world's experts on growing enrollment in higher education — the key skill needed to get City College of San Francisco back on a firm foundation.

I've worked to grow enrollment and conduct student outreach for institutions such as UCLA, Texas A&M University, Eastern New Mexico University, and the National Parent Teacher Association. I've also worked on behalf of New York City Public Schools, New Mexico's 529 College Savings Plan, and currently, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

Building on my background as a Harvard-trained economist, I also can bring my financial acumen to the challenges facing City College of San Francisco. Previously, I served as a speechwriter for the Nasdaq Stock Market's chief economist, wrote case studies for Harvard Business School and the U.S. Department of Commerce, and authored educational materials for the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).

Are you currently or formerly enrolled at City College, and/or do you have any children who are currently or formerly enrolled at City College?

I'm currently enrolled at City College and am pursuing a certificate in Diversity and Social Justice. I'm about one-third of the way toward earning the certificate.

How long have you lived in San Francisco? What brought you here and what keeps you here?

I've lived in San Francisco since 2012. I came here originally because of the amazing creative energy and the fact that so many of my clients were based in the Bay Area. My wife and I believe it's the greatest city in the world and the greatest city in the world to raise our kids (ages 3.5 and 2). That's why we've made it our forever home.

What do you love most about San Francisco?

The inclusive creative energy. In San Francisco, anything is possible and everyone is accepted. There is a vibrancy to San Francisco unlike anywhere else.

What do you dislike the most about San Francisco?

The current state of urban problems that are entirely avoidable and result from a failure of our political process. This includes crime/public safety, civic disorder, and government accountability.

Tell us about your current involvement in the community (e.g., volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, civic and professional organizations, etc.)

The nonprofit I founded, WE San Francisco, aims to get 8,000 San Franciscans to "ask not what your city can do for you, ask what you can do for your city." . In the past year, we've helped more than 5,000 people who have never previously been involved in civic engagement to get involved in making San Francisco the best it can be. You can learn more at wesanfrancisco.org.

Thank you

Thank you for giving us your time and answering our questionnaire. We look forward to reading your answers and considering your candidacy!