BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-12 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1826
AUTHOR: Hernández
AMENDED: March 19, 2012
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 27, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : Community Colleges: Full-time instructors.
SUMMARY
This bill prohibits 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.
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. (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
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 Board of
Governors (BOG) of the California Community Colleges 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 (commonly
AB 1826
Page 2
referred to as "75/25"). 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) Prohibits a full-time faculty member, as defined in EC §
87003, from being assigned a workload that includes
overload or extra assignments if the overload or extra
assignments exceed 50 percent of a full-time workload in a
semester or a quarter that commences on or after January 1,
2013.
2) Specifies the prohibition shall not supersede a more
stringent overload cap pursuant to a collective bargaining
agreement.
3) Specifies the overload prohibition shall not apply to
summer or intersession terms.
4) Stipulates that for districts with a collective bargaining
agreement that prohibits more than a 50% overload for
full-time faculty, the requirement in (1) would become
operative on January 1, 2014.
5) Specifies that the overload prohibition applies to the
workload of supervisory or managerial personnel of a
community college district who are performing faculty work
allowed under a collective bargaining agreement.
6) Requires districts to be reimbursed for costs if the
Commission on State Mandates determines that this act
contains costs mandated by the state.
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
AB 1826
Page 3
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 may reduce income and health benefits of
part-time faculty and may 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 unit 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 CCC classes,
only 172 (1.2%) had an overload exceeding 50%. (The Los
Angeles Community College District, which encompasses about
8% of statewide CCC enrollment, is not yet included in this
data).
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 the 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. Very small districts or those that offer
unique programs where the number of experts available to
each may be limited could find it particularly challenging
to comply with the requirements of AB 1826.
3) Related and prior legislation .
AB 1826
Page 4
AB 852 (Fong) provides temporary community college faculty who
meet specified requirements, the right of first refusal for
teaching assignments. This measure was passed as amended
by this Committee on a 6-1 vote and is pending in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 383 (Portantino, 2011), proposed a one-time stipend to a CCC
district entering into a collective bargaining agreement
prohibiting more than a 50% overload, failed passage in the
Assembly Higher Education Committee in January 2012.
SUPPORT
California Federation of Teachers
California Labor Federation
OPPOSITION
Antelope Valley Community College District
West Kern Community College District