BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
114 (Yee)
Hearing Date: 05/02/2011 Amended: 04/04/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 7-3
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 114 requires California community college
(CCC) districts to place part-time faculty on a schedule of
comparable salary steps as full-time faculty with similar
academic preparation and years of experience; pay part-time
faculty in a manner that mirrors the same relationship to the
placement of full-time faculty on the schedule, and report the
salary on payroll notices and to the State Teachers' Retirement
System (STRS) as a percentage of full-time salary. This bill
makes legislative findings and declarations regarding the work
and compensation of part-time faculty in CCCs.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
Fund
Pay Equity up to $87,000 up to $173,000
up to $173,000 General*
Salary schedules Potentially substantial, one-time
mandate costs General
STRS reporting Unknown; potentially significant one-time
mandate costs General
*Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
SB 114 finds and declares that: a) Part-time community college
faculty have the same qualifications and academic credentials as
full-time faculty; b) that they spend the same number of
non-classroom hours working as full-time faculty; c) that
part-time faculty pay should, and does not, reflect actual
workload; d) that STRS credit reporting for part-time faculty is
rife with problems which could be resolved by using a full-time
equivalent (FTE) percentage-based reporting system; and e) that
all part time faculty should receive pay and benefits that are
equal to those of tenure-track faculty on a pro rata basis.
This bill's extensive findings and declarations strongly suggest
a legislative intent to increase CCC part-time faculty
compensation. This stated intent creates substantial cost
pressure to equalize the salaries and benefits of CCC full-time
and part-time faculty (on a pro rata basis), by increasing the
compensation and benefits of part-time faculty.
Existing law allows CCC districts to locally bargain the rates
of pay for their faculty members, and full-time and part-time
faculty members are typically compensated at different rates. SB
114 mandates instead that CCC districts "determine the
compensation of part time community college faculty using a
salary schedule that places part-time faculty on comparable
salary steps as full-time faculty with similar
SB 114 (Yee)
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academic preparation and years of experience," and that
part-time faculty be "placed on a schedule that mirrors the same
relationship to placement of full-time faculty on the schedule".
This bill requires that CCCs use salary steps and compensation
rates for part-time faculty that are comparable to full-time
rates (pro-rated), which will likely constitute a
state-reimbursable local mandate. The state would be responsible
for paying the difference between the existing part-time rates,
and the newly mandates salary increases. This bill further
requires that part-time faculty be placed in specific points on
the salary schedule, based on full-time faculty placement, which
will likely translate to an additional increase to the salaries
of at least some current part-time faculty members.
According to the CCC Chancellor's Office, the statewide cost of
increasing part-time faculty rates up to the level of full-time
faculty pay would range from $154 million to $173 million
annually. Staff notes that this would also increase future STRS
benefits paid to those faculty members in retirement,
exacerbating the severity of the current unfunded liability in
STRS. Additionally, one-time reimbursable mandate costs would be
incurred to create new salary schedules, adjust faculty
compensation, and train staff to use new salary schedules.
SB 114 further requires that CCCs report the salary of part-time
faculty on payroll notices and to STRS as a percentage of
full-time salary. There would likely be one-time reimbursable
mandate costs for one-time workload to calculate credit hours as
a percentage of full-time salary for the CCCs that do not
currently report the information this way. This provision would
likely create some amount of off-setting savings to STRS,
because the agency would receive more streamlined and consistent
information.