BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 114
Author: Yee (D)
Amended: 1/17/12
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-3, 3/16/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Simitian,
Vargas
NOES: Runner, Blakeslee, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-2, 1/19/12
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner
SUBJECT : Community colleges: academic salary schedules
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill (1) allows a community college
district to calculate the salary of a part-time faculty
member, and report that salary on payroll notices and to
the State Teachers' Retirement System, as a percentage of
salary for a full-time teaching load, and (2) authorizes
the provisions of this bill to be subjects of negotiations
for new or successor collective bargaining agreements.
ANALYSIS : Existing law defines any person who is
employed to teach for not more than 67 percent of the hours
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per week considered a full-time assignment to be a
temporary (part-time) employee.
Existing law specifies the minimum standard for full-time
service in community colleges for purposes of calculating
State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) service credit and
specifies 525 instructional hours per school year for all
instructors employed on a part-time basis, except
instructors employed in adult education programs. This
minimum standard can be increased for part-time faculty who
participate in an office hours program, as specified.
This bill:
1.Allows a community college district to calculate the
salary of a part-time faculty member, and report that
salary on payroll notices and to STRS, as a percentage of
salary for a full-time teaching load.
2.Provides that this bill shall not preclude the
implementation of any agreement entered into that is in
effect before January 1, 2012.
Comments
Part-Time Faculty . This bill attempts to deal with a
persistent issues for part-time faculty in California
community colleges: difficulties in accruing equitable
benefits in the STRS Defined Benefits Program. As
districts have increasingly turned to part-time faculty to
provide instruction, this issue has become more significant
for both part-time faculty and their employers.
A 2000 report by the California State Auditor noted that
overall, part-time faculty earn lower wages and receive
fewer benefits for teaching activities than full-time
faculty with similar education and experience. This report
also found that none of the eight districts included in the
study enhance the pay rate of part-time faculty who have
more education and experience as attractively as they do
for their full-time instructors.
The State Auditor also found that it is more difficult for
part-time faculty to obtain the retirement benefits
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provided to full-time faculty, in part because it takes
longer for them to vest in STRS and because service credit
is determined by dividing the amount earned by the member
by the full-time compensation earnable. To vest in the
system, a part-time member must accumulate the equivalent
of at least five years of full-time service. If service
credit was based on the percentage of a full-time
assignment, an instructor working half-time would
accumulate one-half year of service credit for each year
worked. However, because a part-time faculty member earns
service credit in proportion to the compensation of a
full-time faculty member and because a full-time faculty
member typically has a higher rate of pay, the actual
service credit earned may be much lower. According to
STRS, approximately 63 percent of Defined Benefits Program
members who are employed by a community college are
employed on a less-than-full-time basis.
Need for the Bill . According to the author's office, STRS
can give part-time community college faculty proper and
accurate credit for service retirement if community college
districts report part-time salaries more consistently.
That would include calculating the salary of a part-time
faculty member in terms of workload, and reporting that
salary as a percentage of full-time salary to STRS.
STRS Task Force . STRS is currently undertaking a
comprehensive review of the Designed Benefit Program as it
applies to community college faculty and has established a
task force to help facilitate a solution. Over the next
few months, this task force will be considering
alternatives to address the problems that employers,
members, and STRS experience with respect to community
college employment on a less-than-full-time basis.
Recommendations from this panel could result in new or more
equitable methods of accruing retirement benefits from
part-time community college faculty.
Prior Legislation
The Legislature has considered various measures addressing
the use and compensation of part-time faculty in the CCCs:
ACR 138 (Nava), Resolution Chapter 142, Statutes of 2010,
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stated the intent of the Legislature that (1) part-time and
temporary community college faculty receive pay and
benefits that are equal to those of specified tenured and
tenure-track faculty to the extent funding is provided and
(2) the CCCs increase the percentage of full-time tenure
and tenure-track faculty. Adopted by the Senate on 8/23/10
with a vote of 24-11.
AB 360 (Ma), 2009-10 Session, would have encouraged STRS to
conduct a study that would examine the feasibility and
cost-effectiveness of either creating a new program for
part-time instructors or making appropriate modifications
to the Defined Benefit Program to more appropriately
reflect the career of a part-time instructor. (Held in
Assembly Appropriations Committee)
AB 591 (Dymally), Chapter 84, Statutes of 2008, increased,
from 60 to 67 percent, the proportion of hours per week of
a full-time instructional assignment that an individual may
teach and still be considered a temporary employee. Passed
by the Senate on 6/23/08 with a vote of 35-0.
AB 1423 (Davis), 2007-08 Session, would have required CCC
district academic salary scheduled to be uniform in
application and effect. (Held in Assembly Appropriations
Committee)
SB 955 (Burton), Chapter 25, Statutes of 2003, exempts
service in ancillary professional activities, including
governance, staff development, grant writing, and advising
student organizations, from counting toward the calculation
of eligibility for contract or regular status for part-time
employees at CCCs unless otherwise provided for in the
relevant collective bargaining agreement. Passed by the
Senate on 4/10/03 with a vote of 40-0.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
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STRS reporting Likely minor costs, if
community college Local
districts choose to
participate
SUPPORT : (Verified 1/23/12)
California Federation of Teachers (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
California Labor Federation
California Teachers Association
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
San Francisco Community College Federation of Teachers
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Although part-time faculty must
meet the same minimum qualifications as full-time faculty
and perform the same teaching activities, the sponsor of
this bill, the California Federation of Teachers, argue
that many districts do not give part-time faculty salary
placement credit for education or experience beyond the
minimum qualifications, making it difficult for part-time
faculty to understand how to achieve salary enhancements.
Further, the sponsor indicates that pay rates based on
classroom hours may not adequately account for teaching
activities such as preparing for class or grading papers,
resulting in inequalities in salary and service credit
reported to STRS. This lack of clarify creates
complexities in determining the STRS credit a member has
earned and can make it more difficult for part-time faculty
to obtain retirement benefits.
CM:cpm 1/24/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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