BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 950
AUTHOR: Chau
AMENDED: June 12, 2013
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 19, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lenin Del Castillo
SUBJECT : Community College Full-time Instructors.
SUMMARY
This bill requires that a full-time faculty member, as
defined, for a community college district shall not be
assigned a workload that includes overload or extra
assignments if the overload or extra assignments exceed fifty
percent of a full-time workload in a semester or quarter that
commences on or after January 1, 2014, with several
exceptions, as specified.
BACKGROUND
Existing law defines "faculty" as those employees of a
community college district who are employed in academic
positions that are not designated as supervisory or
management, as specified. Faculty include, but are not
limited to, instructors, librarians, counselors, community
college health services professionals, handicapped student
programs and services professionals, and extended opportunity
programs and services professionals. (Education Code �
87003)
Existing law defines any person who is employed to teach for
not more than 67% of the hours per week considered a
full-time assignment to be a temporary (part-time) employee.
(Education Code � 87482.5 and � 87882)
The Board of Governors (BOG) of the California Community
Colleges (CCC) has had a longstanding policy that at least 75
percent of the hours of credit instruction in the CCC, as a
system, should be taught by full-time instructors (commonly
referred to as "75/25"). Existing law requires the BOG to
adopt regulations regarding the percent of credit instruction
taught by full-time faculty and authorizes CCC districts with
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less than 75% full-time instructors to apply a portion of
their "program improvement" funds toward reaching a 75% goal.
However, the state has stopped providing program improvement
funds and the BOG has since required CCC districts to provide
a portion of their growth funds to hiring more full-time
faculty. (Education Code � 87482.6)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Requires that a full-time faculty member, as defined,
for a CCC district shall not be assigned a workload that
includes overload or extra assignments if the overload
or extra assignments exceed fifty percent of a full-time
workload in a semester or quarter that commences on or
after January 1, 2014.
2) Requires that the prohibition not apply to the
following:
a) A summer or intersession term.
b) A community college district with fewer
than 3,000 full-time equivalent students.
c) Programs in the Taxonomy of Programs Code
09 for Engineering and Industrial Technologies, as
described in the California Community College
Taxonomy of Programs.
3) Provides that the prohibition not supersede the
pertinent requirements of a collective bargaining
agreement containing restrictions regarding limitations
on overload or extra assignments that are in effect at
the time this section becomes operative.
4) Provides that with respect to a CCC district with
collective bargaining agreement that, as of January 1,
2014, prohibits a full-time faculty member from being
assigned a workload that includes overload or extra
assignments if the overload or extra assignments exceed
fifty percent of a full-time workload, the bill's
prohibition become operative on January 1, 2015.
5) Provides that the prohibition apply to the workload of
supervisory or managerial personnel of a community
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college district who are performing faculty work that is
allowed under an applicable collective bargaining
agreement.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : According to the author's office,
the quality of instruction at community colleges is
hampered when full-time faculty teach course sections
that are well beyond their already heavy teaching loads.
While current law defines a part-time faculty member as
an individual who works not more than 67% of the hours
considered to be a full-time teaching load, it does not
address the maximum workload for full-time faculty. The
sponsor of this bill, the California Federation of
Teachers, argues that allowing full-time faculty to work
in excess of 50% of their full-time workload essentially
reduces the number of classes available for part-time
faculty to teach which can have the effect of reducing
income and health benefits of part-time faculty. This
may also reduce the overall quality of instruction
provided to students.
2) Overload assignments . The term "overload assignments"
refers to the practice of full-time faculty electing to
teach additional courses (with additional pay) beyond
their normal full-time teaching load. While policies
regarding overload assignments can vary significantly
among community colleges and departments, they are
generally designed to ensure that the primary
responsibilities of faculty are not compromised by the
overload assignments. Some colleges require individual
assignments to be approved by department deans while
others have negotiated district-wide caps that range
from one course to 67% of a full-time load. According
to the CCC Chancellor's Office, a recent survey revealed
that 13 of 44 responding colleges indicated that they
have a policy or bargaining agreement allowing full-time
faculty to have more than a 50% overload. According to
the Chancellor's Office, for the Fall 2011 semester, of
the 14,489 tenured or tenured track faculty teaching
California Community College (CCC) classes, 172 (1.2%)
had an overload exceeding 50%. Note that the Los
Angeles Community College District, which encompasses
about 8% of statewide CCC enrollment, was not included
in this data.
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3) Is the bill necessary ? This bill establishes a
statewide cap on the overload assignments a full-time
faculty member may teach. Given that most full-time
faculty appear not to be teaching overload assignments
that exceed 50% of their full-time workload and given
that some districts and faculty have negotiated overload
caps that meet local needs, it is not clear if the
remedy this bill prescribes is necessary. While
prohibiting excessive overload assignments may make it
easier for part-time faculty to continue teaching, the
bill could reduce the flexibility of districts to meet
local needs. Districts that offer unique programs where
the number of experts available to teach may be limited
could find it particularly challenging to comply with
the requirements of this bill.
4) Related and prior legislation .
AB 1826 (Hernandez, 2012), similar to this bill, would
prohibit a full-time faculty member from being assigned
a workload with an overload or extra assignments
exceeding 50% of the full-time semester or quarter
workload, as specified. This bill passed this Committee
but subsequently failed passage in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California Federation of Teachers (sponsor)
California Labor Federation
OPPOSITION
California Community College Independents