DOCUMENT RESUME ED 471 640 JC 030 084 Part-Time Faculty: A Principled Perspective. TITLE Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, INSTITUTION Sacramento. 2002-00-00 PUB DATE NOTE 69p. Reports Descriptive (141) PUB TYPE EDRS Price MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE DESCRIPTORS *Adjunct Faculty; College Faculty; Community Colleges; *Compensation (Remuneration); Employer Employee Relationship; Fringe Benefits; Health Insurance; Justice; Laws; *Part Time Faculty; *Teacher Employment Benefits; *Teaching Load;. Two Year Colleges; Vacations; Values; Wages IDENTIFIERS *California Community Colleges ABSTRACT This paper details the history of part-time faculty use in the California Community Colleges (CCCs). The status and use of part-time faculty hired on temporary assignments in the CCCs has been a long-standing and growing concern of the Academic Senate. In 1960, the ratio of full-time faculty to full-time students in the public junior colleges was 1/20; the current ratio is over 1/35, nearly doubling faculty responsibilities. Passage of the 60% law in 1967 reclassified any instructor teaching not more than 60% of the hours considered a full-time load as a temporary employee rather than a contract employee. Currently, 66.2% of faculty are part-time and they teach 46.1% of credit instruction. In addition to cataloging the legislation that has impacted part-time faculty status since 1967, this paper addresses state activity relating to part-time faculty issues: (1) hiring procedures; (2) health benefits; (3) student contact hours; and (4) comparable pay for comparable work. The paper concludes that the problems created by decades of arbitrary use and abuse of part-time faculty are complex and interdependent. During the 2000-2001 budget cycle, the Legislature and the Governor began to address the fundamental cause of the problems. The California Community College System must now try to formulate a comprehensive solution that avoids short-term and partial solutions that create new and unnecessary problems. (AUTH/NB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Spring 2002 Adopted PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) a This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. nnO PART-TIME FACULTY: A PRINCIPLED PERSPECTIVE THE ACADEMIC SENATE FOR CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES ST COPY AVAILABLE Educational Policies Committee 2001-2002 Linda Collins, Los Medanos College, Chair Lacy Barnes-Mileham, Reed ley College Chris Storer, De Anza College Bruce Koller, Diablo Valley College Bernie Seyboldt Day, Ohlone/Foothill College Rosa Carlson, College of the Sequoias, CIO Representative Jeff Cooper, Shasta College, CaISACCC Representative Educational Policies Committee 2000-2001 Kate Clark, Irvine Valley College, Chair Lacy Barnes-Mileham, Reedley College Elton Hall, Moorpark College Hoke Simpson, Grossmont College Ian Walton, Mission College Susan Carleo, Los Angeles Valley College, CIO Representative 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Section I History, Use and Academic Senate Response to Issues of Part-time Temporary Faculty 4 History of Part-time Temporary Faculty Use 4 6 Academic Senate Responses to the Issues Part-time Faculty Hiring Procedures: A Model Based on Assembly Bill 1725 6 Part-time Faculty in the California Community Colleges 8 The Council of Faculty Organizations (COFO) Faculty Equity Statement 8 The Use of Part-time Faculty in California Community Colleges: Issues and Impact ...10 Participation of Part-time Faculty on the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges 12 Section II Recent State Activities Relating to Part-time Faculty Use 13 Health Benefits for Part-time Faculty 14 Part-time Faculty and Student Contact (Office Hours) 15 Comparable Pay for Comparable Work 17 Assembly Bill 420 (Wildman) 17 Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) Hearings on Part Time Faculty Use 18 The California State Auditor's Report 18 The California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) Report 19 Part-time Issues Task Force and Consultation Discussions 22 Board of Governors Policy Statement on Part-time Faculty Compensation 23 Non-instructional Faculty 25 Section III Defining the Professional Expectations of Faculty 26 Employment Stability and Security 27 Academic Freedom and Professional Careers 27 Faculty Diversity 27 Flexibility 30 AB 1245 (Alquist): Rehire Rights 32 Section IV The Issue of Part-time Faculty Tenure 33 Conclusion and Recommendations Section V 36 Conclusion 36 Recommendations 36 Policy Level Recommendations 36 Recommendations to Local Academic Senates 37 References 38 Appendices Appendix A. Chronology 39 Appendix B. Part-Time Office Hours and Equity Fund 2001 Budget Language 50 Appendix C. New BOG Policy Statement Communiqué 51 Board Policy Statement on Part-Time Faculty Compensation 54 Memorandum from the Chancellor 56 PART-TIME FACULTY: A PRINCIPLED PERSPECTIVE INTRODUCTION The status and use of part-time the overuse and abuse of part-time temporary faculty hired on temporary assignments, and the resulting impact on the quality assignments in the California of the community colleges, indicate that real change community colleges (CCCs) has is now underway. been a long-standing and growing This paper responds to the Spring 1999 resolution concern of the Academic Senate, both as part of focusing on part-time issues: those issues that affect all community college teachers and as a distinct area of concern in its own S 99 19.02. Resolved that the Academic Senate right. In 1974, less than seven years after 1967 for California Community Colleges direct the legislation authorizing the permanent classification Executive Committee to study comprehensive of part-time faculty as temporary employees and less solutions to the problems and issues developing out than six years after the founding of the Academic of the current system use of part-time temporary Senate, resolutions were adopted addressing faculty, including the possibility of a change in part-time faculty issues. As early as 1977, the Board the California Education Code to require hiring of of Governors of the California Community Colleges full-service faculty for all faculty positions, whether joined in this concern, adopting policy statements full-time contract or regular, or part-time contract limiting the use of part-time faculty to 25 % of credit or regular, and to limit the use of temporary faculty instruction and asserting their support of equal pay to short-term substitutions for duties of contract or for equal work. Over the following 25 years, the regular faculty, and Academic Senate continued to voice its concern in Be it further resolved that the Academic Senate resolutions, policy papers, and in testimony before for California Community Colleges direct the the Board of Governors and the Legislature. Executive Committee to report to the 2000 Recent activities at the state level relating to Spring Plenary Session with analysis and the complex problems and issues surrounding recommendations. 6 EST COPY HAMA LE PART-TIME FACULTY: A PRINCIPLED PERSPECTIVE a line item for part-time faculty compensation This resolution was prompted by the introduction equity had been included in the 2001-2002 system of Assembly Bill 420 (Wildman) into the 1998-99 budget proposal, and in July 2001, Governor Davis legislative session. In its early form AB 420 would signed the California Budget Bill with an initial have required equal pay for equal work, paid $57 million for this part-time faculty compensation office hours, health benefits, and seniority based fund. The new Board Policy further required rehire rights, for part-time faculty in the California that "specific definitions and policies regarding community colleges. It consequently became known comparable pay are to be determined locally, informally as a "Part-time Faculty Bill of Rights." through the collective bargaining process," and that At that time, the Board of Governors of California these definitions and policies should be completed Community Colleges had engaged the Chancellor's by January or February 2003. Office and the Consultation Council' in discussions While on the surface the required definitions seeking a "comprehensive solution" to the problems and policies appear to be primarily about pay issuing from the use of part-time temporary faculty and working conditions (and hence of concern assignments in the system. However, system level primarily to collective bargaining agents), this discussions proceeded slowly. paper argues that the issues relate to the very From 1999 to 2001, discussions of these issues at essence of faculty professionalism and to the the state level, though somewhat disconnected, educational quality of the CCC. Academic tradition proceeded at a more rapid pace. The evolving has defined the work of professional educators debate that ensued, restructured and deepened the in terms of Carnegie units of instruction. The understanding of these issues. During the Spring broad range of professional activities beyond the 1999, AB 420 (Wildman) was amended radically classroom, while often discussed in general terms, but was signed into law requiring the California is seldom specified in detail. The reduction of Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) to faculty professionalism to hourly work has been conduct a comprehensive study of CCC part-time resisted for tenured faculty positions. However, faculty employment and compensation. Delays part-time temporary assignments have been in the CPEC study prompted the Joint Legislative regularly forced into just such an hourly structure. Audit Committee (JLAC) to hold hearings during Defining "comparable pay for comparable work" the Spring 2000. The State Auditor was asked by requires a basis of comparison. Any reduction in JLAC to report on the issues, and the Bureau of State part-time faculty compensation below a 100% Audits completed its work by June 2000. pro-rated proportion based on Carnegie unit load requires determining just which professional In September 2001, acting on Consultation expectations of tenured and tenure track faculty consensus, the CCC Board of Governors adopted need not be expected of part-time temporary Board Policy reaffirming their "equal pay for equal faculty. Any proposed reduction in professional work" position taken in 1977. The new policy expectations must be considered in terms of its statement declared that "part-time faculty should potential impact on the educational quality and be paid comparably to full-time faculty for those equity provided to the students of such faculty. professional responsibilities expected equally of Consequently, it is extremely important that full- and part-time faculty." Anticipating this policy, local academic senates and the faculty as a whole become engaged in these deliberations. 1 The Consultation Council was established to develop consensual advice to the Board of Governors through representation from the major stakeholder organizations involved with CCC policy. 2 7 PART-TIME FACULTY: A PRINCIPLED PERSPECTIVE The paper concludes with a series of This paper provides a more detailed history of the recommendations, some of which reaffirm earlier issues; it reviews earlier Academic Senate papers Academic Senate recommendations, and some and resolutions regarding the use of part-time that are new and more comprehensive. In the most temporary faculty in California's community general terms, the Academic Senate recommends colleges, placing them within the historical context. that local senates work with their faculty association It then looks at recent activities in Sacramento and or union, and with their district's administration studies reported by the California State Auditor and board of trustees, to establish definitions and and the California Post Secondary Education Commission. The paper then reviews the recent policies regarding part-time faculty pay equity that assure equal professional expectations of all faculty. actions by the Board of Governors of the California All of these recommendations are offered with the Community Colleges, the California Legislature, and the Governor. While developing this historical goal of moving California's community colleges survey, this paper considers these issues from toward a comprehensive solution to these complex a principled perspective, seeking to understand problems, a solution that will be mindful of the academic and professional issues for which the their complexity. It discusses the academic and professional implications of recent developments Academic Senate is accountable.2 and offers an analysis of the major issues that continue to affect the role of part-time faculty and 2 Several appendices provide key documents, including a chronology of events since the 1960 Master Plan for Higher the California Community College System. Education in California, and the recent Board of Governors' Policy Statement on Part-time Faculty Compensation. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 8 PART-TIME FACULTY: A PRINCIPLED PERSPECTIVE Section I HISTORY, USE AND ACADEMIC SENATE RESPONSE TO ISSUES OF PART-TIME TEMPORARY FACULTY HISTORY OF PART-TIME TEMPORARY FACULTY USE uring the research and writing integrated programs leading to a degree, transfer, or to of the 1960 Master Plan for a certificate. Consequently, the Master Plan virtually Higher Education, the ratio of ignores any limited role part-time temporary faculty full-time faculty to full-time might have played in the junior colleges. students in the public junior In November 1967, Education Code §13337.5 became colleges was less than 1/20.3 The current ratio of effective. Often referred to as the 60 % law, this full-time equivalent faculty (FTE) (full- and section, now labeled §87482.5 (a), reads, part-time faculty) to full-time equivalent students is over 1/35,4 nearly doubling the responsibilities of Not withstanding any other provision of law, any faculty. person who is employed to teach adult or community college classes for not more than 60 percent of the Prior to 1967, part-time temporary assignments hours per week considered a full-time assignment for were strictly limited to use in the evening programs regular employees having comparable duties shall of standalone courses for adult learners but also be classified as a temporary employee, and shall not provided occasional short-term substitutions for become a contract employee under section 87604. full-time tenured faculty. Students in the regular day programs were almost all full-time students pursuing By 1974, the over use of such temporary part-time faculty had already become an issue. The Academic Senate, then in its fifth year, adopted three resolutions 3 The Master Plan Survey Team, A Master Plan for Higher Education, regarding the use of part-time faculty. The State Department of Education, reprinted by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, (1998) Table 17, p.121. S74 SUPPORT legislation to ensure that part-time, 4 California Community College Chancellor's Office,"Report on substitute, and temporary teachers are granted Staffing for Fall 2000,"(November 29,2001) p. 15. From this data the benefits of due process and equitable pro-rata the paper uses all credit and noncredit instruction, replacements, remuneration that are provided for contract and and overload assignments, for a total of 28396.5 FTE faculty.The regular teachers; request that AB 2965 (Cory/ paper uses an often-cited estimate of 1,000,000 FTE students, Rodda) be so written. giving a ratio of 1 FTE faculty member to 35.2 FTE students. FTE full-time faculty is approximately equal to the number of F74 SUPPORT any legislative or state board full-time faculty members; however, since the average load of each proposal for modification in statutes governing part-time faculty member is about one-third of a full load, the employment of certificated personnel in community number of part-time faculty members is about three times the FTE part-time faculty. colleges which will assure that students attending 4 9 EST COPY MAILABLE PART-TIME FACULTY: A PRINCIPLED PERSPECTIVE the number of full-time faculty had grown to 15,753 classes taught by part-time instructors receive while that of part-time faculty had grown to 29,879. educational opportunities, privileges, and Thus, in seven years, part-time faculty had become advantages equal to those of students attending 65.5 %, a 3.2 % increase. Thirty-one percent (31 %) classes taught by full-time instructors. of credit instruction was reported to be by part-time F74 ENCOURAGE local Senates to involve faculty, a 3 % increase during the same seven-year part-time instructors actively in Senate affairs. period. It should be noted that these 1974 resolutions The most recent Chancellor's Office Report on encompass the entire range of part-time faculty issues Staffing for Fall 2000 shows that the number of that have remained unresolved for the ensuing 28 full-time faculty has grown to 18,864, while part-time years! faculty now number 36,900 or 66.2 %. While this represents less than a 1 % increase over the past The California Community and Junior College nineteen years, the percentage of credit instruction Association reported that in 1974 there were 14,747 taught by part-time faculty has now climbed to full-time community college faculty while there were 46.1 %, a 15.1 % increase.6 24,421 part-time. Thus, 62.3 percent of faculty had become part-time and they were already teaching At least as early as 1984, the CPEC began to raise 28% of graded classes.5 concerns over the In 1979-80, Assembly Bill 1550 (Vasconcellos, .high proportion of community college faculty Chapter 1177) focused legislative concerns on the who are employed on a part-time basis. ...Over number and use of part-time temporary faculty dependence on part-time faculty inevitably injures and full-time faculty overload assignments. The bill not only part-time faculty, but also their full-time required that: colleagues and, most of all, the students.' The Board of Governors of the California Use of part-time temporary faculty has long been Community Colleges shall publish a statewide report justified for the flexibility it allows the colleges in on part-time employment patterns and practices providing a broad program of courses. However, in each community college district to be submitted by the time of AB 1725 (Vasconcellos), 1988, to the legislature no later than January 1, 1982. the Legislature had become so concerned about At the least, the report shall include a comparison the continuing failure of the CCCs to deal with a of full-time and part-time faculty in the areas of repeatedly flagged problem that they wrote: teaching workload, related academic activities, remuneration, types of certificates, types of classes 6 California Community College Chancellor's Office,"Report on taught, length of employment, and whether or not Staffing for Fall 2000," (November 29,2001) pp 1 and 15.These the faculty members are evaluated. Information staffing reports derive their data from the system management on assignments performed by full-time instructors information system (MIS), a computerized collection of data which is in addition to their full-time assignment reported to the Chancellor's Office by the districts.The data and for which additional compensation is provided compared here over a 40-year period derive from different sources shall be included in the report. so one must be cautious when interpreting. However, the trends are clear. In the subsequent report to the Legislature, in Spring 1981 the Chancellor's Office reported that 7 The California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC), Faculty Salaries and Related Matters in the California Community Colleges, 1984-85, p 7. 5 California Community College Chancellor's Office Analytical Studies Unit, "Report on Faculty Employment" (January,1982) pp 9-10. BEST COPY i 0 AVAILABLE