BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1690
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|Author: |Medina |
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|Version: |March 14, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 22, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lenin DelCastillo |
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Subject: Community colleges: part-time, temporary employees
SUMMARY
This bill requires community college districts to have
collective bargaining agreements with part-time faculty that
include specified conditions of employment.
BACKGROUND
Existing law defines "faculty" as those employees of community
college districts 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 also 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 part-time, temporary employee. (EC
§ 87482.5 and § 87882)
The Board of Governors (BOG) of the California Community
Colleges (CCC) has had a longstanding policy that at least 75%
of the hours of credit instruction in the community colleges, as
a system, should be taught by full-time instructors (commonly
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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 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. (EC §
87482.6)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Requires community college districts that do not have a
collective bargaining agreement with part-time faculty in
effect as of January 1, 2017, to commence negotiations with
exclusive representatives for part-time, temporary faculty
regarding specified terms and conditions, as follows:
a) Provides upon initial hire, the
requirements for the evaluation of part-time faculty
members, as specified, including, but not necessarily
limited to, a contract or regular faculty peer
evaluator who has expertise in the subject matter of
the part-time, temporary faculty member's assignment.
b) Requires the evaluation of part-time
faculty members at least once every six semesters or
nine quarters of service, exclusive of summer and
intersession terms.
c) Requires the placement on a seniority
list for assignments, following six semesters or nine
quarters of satisfactory service, as specified. The
seniority for all assignments shall be determined
based on the first date of hire at the applicable
college and seniority lists shall be by campus unless
otherwise locally negotiated between the community
college district and the exclusive representative for
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part-time, temporary faculty.
d) Maintains the faculty member's workload
for semester seven or quarter ten and beyond, as
specified. As new assignments become available due to
growth or attrition, these assignments shall be
offered in seniority order to those part-time,
temporary faculty members who have qualified to be
placed on the seniority list, as specified, and
previously successfully completed that same
assignment. Provides that these assignments may be
made up to a maximum annualized load, exclusive of
summer and intersession terms, in the range of 60 to
67% of a full-time equivalent load.
e) Provides that in cases where a
reduction in assignment needs to occur due to program
needs, budget constraints, or more contract faculty
hires, the reduction shall occur first from among
those part-time, temporary faculty members who have
not yet qualified to be placed on the seniority list,
and thereafter in reverse seniority order (i.e., use
of "last in, first out" for reductions in
assignments), as specified. Provides that each new
assignment successfully completed shall be added to
the part-time, temporary faculty member seniority
list.
f) Provides that the procedures governing
refusal or rejection of offered assignments,
diminution or loss of seniority rights, and additional
leave or break-in-service provisions shall be locally
negotiated between the community college district and
the exclusive representative for part-time faculty.
g) Requires that in cases where a
part-time faculty, subsequent to qualifying to be
placed on the seniority list, receives a less-than
satisfactory evaluation, as defined, the faculty
member shall be provided a written plan of remediation
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with concrete suggestions for improvement, as
specified. Provides that the faculty member shall be
evaluated again the following semester and if the
outcome is less than satisfactory, the faculty member
shall lose all seniority rights and may be dismissed
at the discretion of the district. Provides that
appeal and grievance rights and procedures, if any,
shall be subject to local collective bargaining.
h) Provides that in all cases, part-time
faculty assignments are temporary in nature,
contingent on enrollment and funding, and subject to
program changes, and no part-time faculty member has a
reasonable assurance of continued employment at any
point, as specified.
2) Provides that a community college district with a
collective bargaining agreement with part-time faculty in
effect as of January 1, 2017 and executes a signed written
agreement, shall be exempt from the above requirements if
the agreement takes into account all of the following:
a) Part-time faculty assignments are based
on seniority up to 60% to 67% of a full-time
equivalent teaching load.
b) A regular evaluation process for part-time
faculty.
c) Due process for termination once a
part-time faculty member has qualified for the
negotiated provisions.
3) Provides that a written agreement, confirming that these
provisions have been included in a collective bargaining
agreement, shall be signed by the exclusive representative
for part-time faculty and the community college district,
who are subject to that agreement, in order for the
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district to be exempt.
4) Provides legislative intent language, as specified.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author's office, "job
instability continues to be one of the greatest concerns
for part-time/temporary faculty. The inability to
negotiate reemployment policies at most community college
districts has resulted in unreliable reemployment
practices. This leaves many part-time faculty wondering if
they will have a job the following semester. Additionally,
many part-time/temporary faculty are left with no option
but to piece together full-time teaching schedules through
employment in two or more community college districts. The
varying reemployment policies in these community college
districts make it difficult for part-time/temporary faculty
to plan their upcoming teaching schedules." The author's
office contends that in most cases, part-time instructors
are paid significantly less than full-time faculty for the
same duties of preparation, teaching and grading, and
assessment. In addition to receiving significantly less in
compensation than their full-time counterparts, in most
cases part-time faculty receive no health coverage and are
not compensated for office hours outside of class to meet
with students." The author argues that, "this lack of
dignity, fairness, and equity translates to poor prospects
for career advancement, resulting in many qualified
part-time faculty leaving the profession annually."
2) Existing reemployment policies. Current law requires that
reappointment rights for temporary faculty are a subject of
negotiation during collective bargaining and provides that
reappointment rights may be based on whatever factors are
agreed to by both parties. Accordingly, many community
college districts have established policies and practices
regarding reappointment rights through the bargaining
process. Additionally, several community college districts
have successfully negotiated bargaining agreements that
contain standards that are similar to those proposed by
this measure, including the Grossmont-Cuyamaca, Los
Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Ventura community
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college districts. While this bill is intended to provide
job security for part-time faculty and minimum standards
for how they are treated, the Committee may wish to
consider whether this bill is necessary as community
college districts and local bargaining units already have
the ability to negotiate reemployment policies. Should all
community college districts be mandated to do so or should
this continue to be left to local discretion?
3) Limits discretion of the community college districts. In
providing job security and establishing minimum standards
for the treatment of part-time faculty, this bill specifies
prescriptive requirements for local bargaining agreements
that all community college districts would be required to
adhere to. The Committee may wish to consider whether this
bill could reduce the ability of the districts to meet
their local community needs in offering course selections
and quickly respond to changing market demands. The
Community College League of California indicates, "by
mandating a one-size fits all approach, this bill will
impose conditions of employment that may not reflect local
district needs, increase costs for districts and ultimately
reduce student success."
4) Part-time faculty. For some time, the Legislature has
considered various efforts to address the issue of
community college districts hiring part-time faculty
members in lieu of full-time faculty. Much of the reason to
utilize temporary faculty is the lower costs associated
with such faculty. Several studies on temporary faculty
found that community college districts pay temporary
faculty significantly less than full-time faculty
performing the same duties, and nearly half of temporary
faculty reported not receiving any type of benefits from
their district.
According to the Center for Community College Student
Engagement's (CCCSE) April 2014 report, entitled,
"Contingent Commitments: Bringing Part-Time Faculty Into
Focus," 70% of the 400,000 faculty members of public,
two-year colleges hired in 2009 were part-time instructors.
The CCCSE report also found that part-time faculty teach
58% of community college classes and 53% of community
college students. Additionally, the CCCSE report found
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that differences in the actions of part-time and full-time
faculty cannot necessarily be attributed to differences in
the will or abilities of part-time faculty. The report
contends that, "Most likely, they exist at least in part
because colleges too often are not fully supporting
part-time faculty or engaging them in critical elements of
the faculty experience."
According to the California Federation of Teachers, nearly
50% of the California Community College (CCC) course
selections are taught by part-time faculty and part-time
faculty out number full-time faculty by two to one.
5) Related budget activity. The 2016-17 budget bill includes
$7 million in Proposition 98 General Fund for part-time
faculty office hours and effectively restores this
categorical program on an ongoing basis.
6) Fiscal impact. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, all districts currently have collecting
bargaining agreements that include provisions regarding
part-time faculty. At least 41 community college
districts, however, do not maintain a seniority list.
Assuming costs of $5,000 to $10,000 per district to
establish such lists, presumably for each academic
department, one-time Proposition 98 General Fund
reimbursable state-mandated costs would be $205,000 to
$410,000 per district. Once established, the ongoing cost
to maintain the seniority lists should be minor and
absorbable.
7) Related and prior legislation.
AB 1010 (Medina, 2015), similar to this measure, would have
required community college districts to have collective
bargaining agreements with part-time faculty that include
specified conditions of employment. This bill failed
passage in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 373 (Pan) proposed a cap on the number of part-time
faculty for each community college district based on the
2014-15 fiscal year, thereby limiting new hires to only
full-time faculty until the district reaches a 75%
threshold of full-time faculty. This bill failed passage
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in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 626 (Low) requires community college districts to
provide funding to increase their full-time/part-time
faculty ratio and to increase support for part-time
faculty. This bill is pending referral in the Senate.
AB 1807 (Fong, 2010) proposed to require community college
districts, through collective bargaining, to establish and
implement reemployment preference lists for part-time
faculty. This measure was held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California Community College Independents
California Faculty Association
California Federation of Teachers
California Labor Federation
California Part-time Faculty Association
California Teachers Association
Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
San Diego Community College District
Student Senate for California Community Colleges
University Professional and Technical Employees
Letters from individuals
OPPOSITION
Community College League of California
National Right to Work Committee
North Orange County Community College District
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