BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       SB 1379|
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                                UNFINISHED BUSINESS 


          Bill No:  SB 1379
          Author:   Mendoza (D) 
          Amended:  8/29/16  
          Vote:     21 

           PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  Not available

           SUBJECT:   Community colleges:  part-time, temporary employees


          SOURCE:    California Federation of Teachers
                     California Teachers Association


          DIGEST:  This bill requires California community college (CCC)  
          districts to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with  
          part-time faculty that include terms of reemployment preference  
          and a regular evaluation process, as specified, as a condition  
          of receiving funds allocated for the Student Success and Support  
          Program (SSSP).


          Assembly Amendments gut and amend this bill, which previously  
          proposed to restructure the composition of the Los Angeles  
          County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, to instead  
          require, as a condition of receiving funds allocated for the  
          Student Success and Support Program (SSSP), good faith  
          negotiation on the establishment of terms of reemployment  
          preference, including termination policies, and a regular  
          evaluation process, as specified.  The amendments also add  
          additional intent language regarding minimum standards for the  
          terms of reemployment preference.









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          ANALYSIS:   


          Existing law:

          1)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)

          2)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)

          3)Requires the Board of Governors (BOG) to adopt regulations  
            regarding the percent of credit instruction taught by  
            full-time faculty and authorizes community college 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)  

          This bill:

          1)Requires, as a condition of receiving funds allocated for the  
            SSSP, community college districts that do not have a  
            collective bargaining agreement with part-time faculty in  
            effect as of January 1, 2017, to negotiate in good faith with  
            exclusive representatives for part-time, temporary faculty all  
            of the following:


             a)   The terms of reemployment preference for part-time  
               faculty assignment based on minimum standards up to the  








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               range of 60 to 67 percent of a full-time equivalent load,  
               as specified.  The terms of reemployment preference should  
               also contain policies for termination, including but not  
               limited to the evaluation process negotiated, as specified.


             b)   A regular evaluation process for part-time faculty, as  
               specified.


          2)Provides that a community college district with a collective  
            bargaining agreement with part-time faculty in effect as of  
            July 1, 2017, that has satisfied the requirements specified  
            above, and executes a signed written agreement, shall be  
            deemed to be in compliance while the bargaining agreement is  
            in force.


          3)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, irrespective of the status, length of service, or  
            reemployment preference of that part-time faculty member.


          4)Provides legislative intent language, as specified, regarding  
            the establishment of minimum standards for the terms of  
            reemployment preference for part-time faculty, including that  
            the minimum standards should consider the length of time  
            part-time faculty have served at the community college or  
            district, the evaluations conducted and other methods of  
            evaluation that can be used to assess educational impact as it  
            relates to student success.

          Comments

          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  








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          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."

          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, including the  
          Grossmont-Cuyamaca, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and  
          Ventura community college districts.  While this bill is  
          intended to provide job security for part-time faculty and  
          minimum standards for how they are treated, community college  
          districts and local bargaining units already have the ability to  
          negotiate reemployment policies.  
          
          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  








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          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 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 CCC course selections are taught by part-time faculty and  
          part-time faculty out number full-time faculty by two to one.

          Student Success at the Community Colleges.  Pursuant to SB 1143  
          (Liu, Chapter 409, Statutes of 2010), the CCC BOG created the  
          Student Success Task Force (SSTF); 20 individuals (community  
          college chief executive officers, faculty, students,  
          researchers, staff and external stake holders) who spent a year  
          researching, studying and debating the best methods to improve  
          student outcomes at the community colleges. 

          According to the SSTF report, which was unanimously adopted by  
          the BOG in January 2012, it was their goal to identify best  
          practices for promoting student success and to develop statewide  
          strategies to take these approaches to scale while ensuring that  
          educational opportunity for historically underrepresented  
          students would not just be maintained, but bolstered. 

          The SSTF efforts resulted in 22 specific recommendations focused  
          on eight separate areas, increasing college and career  
          readiness, strengthening support for entering students, and  
          incentivizing successful student behaviors.  Implementation of  








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          these recommendations is being accomplished by the Chancellor's  
          Office of the CCC via the "Student Success Initiative" through  
          regulatory changes, system-wide administrative policies, local  
          best practices and legislation. These implementation efforts  
          include the following:

          1)SB 1456 (Lowenthal, Chapter 624, Statutes of 2012) recast the  
            Seymour-Campbell Matriculation Act of 1986 in order to target  
            funding to services such as orientation, assessment, and  
            counseling and advising to assist students with the  
            development of education plans.  

          2)At a regulatory level, the BOG approved regulations that  
            provide enrollment priority to students who have participated  
            in assessment, orientation, and who have developed an  
            education plan.  In addition, statutory priority enrollment  
            extended to veterans, foster youth, Extended Opportunity  
            Program & Services students, and disabled students requires  
            participation in these Student Success Services and programs.   
            Students are now required to complete core services as well as  
            to declare a course of study. In addition, districts are now  
            required to notify students that accumulating 100 degree  
            applicable units or being on academic or progress probation  
            for two consecutive terms will result in the loss of  
            enrollment priority.  

          Since 2012, the State has increased ongoing funding for  
          community college student success and support by nearly $600  
          million. These funds have been designated to support the SSSP to  
          provide targeted services such as orientation, assessment, and  
          counseling and advising to assist students with the development  
          of education plans.  In addition these funds support the  
          creation of Student Equity Plans to improve access and outcomes  
          for disadvantaged groups, as well as a number of Chancellor's  
          Office Initiatives to provide related support to districts.  

          Dilution of SSSP efforts?  By conditioning the receipt of SSSP  
          funds to the requirement for community college districts to  
          negotiate collective bargaining agreements with part-time  
          faculty, this bill could potentially dilute the existing SSSP  
          efforts to the extent that local districts elect not to comply  
          with this measure.  However, it is unclear how likely it would  








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          be for a local community college district to do so.  SSSP funds  
          can range anywhere from the mid-hundreds of thousands of dollars  
          for a smaller district to as much as $10 million for a larger  
          district.  Regardless, if a district chooses not to negotiate a  
          collective bargaining agreement with part-time faculty, the loss  
          of SSSP funds could be costly, especially given the significant  
          investments the State has made with these funds to implement  
          strategies to incentivize successful student behaviors and  
          improve completion at the community colleges.  This bill could  
          also set a precedent for future legislation seeking to leverage  
          other requirements while placing similar conditions on the  
          receipt of SSSP funds.  This could then further dilute these  
          funds which are intended for critical academic support services  
          for students.  
          
          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:YesLocal:   Yes


          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, based on the  
          previous version of this bill, there would be the following:

           New seniority lists:  According to the Community College  
            League of California, out of 72 community college districts 40  
            districts do not include seniority provisions in collective  
            bargaining agreements with part-time faculty.  Assuming a cost  
            of $5,000 to $10,000 per district to establish a list,  
            statewide reimbursable costs would be between $200,000 and  
            $400,000.  This estimate assumes that the estimated 32  
            remaining districts have an agreement in place that is based  
            on seniority up to the 60 to 67 percent of a full-time  
            equivalent load; has a regular evaluation process; and  
            includes due process for termination.  Once these existing  
            agreements expire, new agreements would have to be established  
            containing the specified requirements in this bill.   
            (Proposition 98)

           Maintenance of all lists:  Initially only those districts that  
            are not exempt of this bill's requirements will be eligible to  
            claim for reimbursement for maintaining seniority lists.  Once  
            existing agreements that are eligible for exemption expire all  
            districts will be required to maintain seniority lists in  








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            accordance with this bill.  If each college campus used a  
            partial position to track the data necessary to maintain the  
            seniority list, reimbursable state mandate costs could exceed  
            $2 million.  (Proposition 98)


          SUPPORT:   (Verified8/31/16)


          California Federation of Teachers (co-source)
          California Teachers Association (co-source)


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified8/31/16)


          None received


          Prepared by:Lenin DelCastillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105
          8/31/16 21:01:04
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