Title: Part-Time Instructors Picket Calif. Chancellor's Office Over Pay.

Subject(s): COLLEGE teachers, Part-time -- Salaries, etc. -- California; COMMUNITY colleges --

California Source: Community College Week, 12/27/99 - 01/10/2000, Vol. 12 Issue 10 & 11, p8, 1/2p Author(s): Weiger, Pamela R.

Abstract: Reports on the protest initiated by part-time instructors at California's community colleges over the discrepancy of their compensation from that of full-time instructors. Analysis made by the Community College Council for the California Federation of Teachers; Advantages derived from hiring part-time faculty; Statement issued by Ann Bancroft, spokeswoman for the California Secretary of Education.

AN: 2701781 ISSN: 1041-5726

See Articles related to: COMMUNITY colleges -- California Community College Week, December 27, 1999-January 10, 2000

PART-TIME INSTRUCTORS PICKET CALIF. CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE OVER PAY SACRAMENTO, Calif. --

While it may only be part of their reason for teaching, pay has become a major issue for part-time instructors at California's community colleges. The compensation issue turned more than 50 of the teachers into protesters earlier this month as they marched in front of state Chancellor Thomas J. Nussbaum's office here to draw attention to the discrepancy in compensation between part-time teachers and full-time faculty. "All we want for Christmas is a fair day's pay" chanted the picketers, as they carried signs with slogans such as "What are we waiting for? Year 3000?" A new analysis by the Community College Council for the California Federation of Teachers -- the statewide teacher's union -- found that, on average, a part-time community college instructor earns only 37 percent of the salary earned by a full-time instructor with a comparable class load. On an annual basis, the average part-time salary for an instructor teaching the equivalent of a full-time faculty workload is $22,054, compared to California's average full-time faculty salary of $59,295. "The notion of paying an instructor on an hourly basis for only classroom time implies they can just walk into a classroom and teach, and that's not realistic," says Patty Cox, a research specialist for the union. The organization conducted the analysis of the Fall 1998 Report on Staffing and Salaries prepared by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's office. "It takes at least an hour of prep time for each hour of teaching." The union is demanding that $50 million be earmarked for part-timer's salaries in the system's 2000-20001 budget proposal. During the last budget cycle, the chancellor and the Board of Governors of the community-college system asked lawmakers for $3 million to pay part-timers for office hours and benefits. Gov. Gray Davis and the Legislature approved only $1 million. As in most states, California's community colleges have historically hired part-time faculty to meet the short-term community needs. By employing working professionals as teachers, this practice "has the effect of enriching the curriculum and strengthening the tie between the college and its community," according to the state legislature. Part-time faculty also provide hiring flexibility and fill voids created by unanticipated enrollment growth, and in some cases provide technical expertise that full-time faculty lack. The Legislature also acknowledges that part-time instructors often can do all this at a lower cost than full-time faculty. Cox says she was "absolutely" surprised by the results of her analysis and just how much lower that cost is. Her education background is in K-12, where she says part-time faculty are paid pro rata: if the regular workload is five classes, a part-time teacher who teaches one class earns one-fifth of the pay. "I just took it for granted that this was the case everywhere," Cox says. "Students don't sign up with part-timers and expect to get less education or less attention. So why would the instructors get less pay?" While Cox and others acknowledge that part-time faculty members don't have the governance obligations that full-time faculty must undertake, they don't believe that's enough to justify the huge salary discrepancy. The Chancellor's report is an annual statewide computation released each fall. The federation decided to compile its own analysis of the data after union members in the part-time ranks raised the issue of equity and fairness. In addition to the 1998 study, Cox looked at the fall 1996 report and found little change over the two-year period. The percentage of salary earned by the part-time instructors rose "only a tiny bit" from 36.6 percent in 1996 to 37.2 percent of the full-time equivalent in 1998. "We're just trying to make the governor and legislators aware of the discrepancies," Cox says. Apparently, the powers that be in state government are already well aware of the issue. During the last legislative session, Governor Gray Davis signed a bill requiring detailed exploration of the compensation situation. AB 420, as it is well-known in education circles, requires the California Postsecondary Education Commission to conduct a comprehensive study of the part-time faculty employment, salary and compensation patterns of the California Community Colleges. The bill requires the commission to release its preliminary findings regarding the study to the legislature by March 31, 2000, with the complete study to be submitted by July 1. "Currently there are minimum state requirements for pay, but there is a very wide variation by district for levels of compensation," says Ann Bancroft, spokeswoman for the California Secretary of Education. "It is difficult to say 'raise the salary to X' until we know what the salaries are." Another problem is the definition of "part-time." Existing California law defines part-time faculty as any faculty member whose teaching assignment in two or more community college districts equals or exceeds the cumulative equivalent of a minimum full-time teaching assignment. The new bill revises the definition by deleting the requirement that the faculty member teach in two or more districts and redefines the term "part-time" to mean any faculty member "whose teaching assignment equals or exceeds 40 percent of the cumulative equivalent of a minimum full-time teaching assignment." In addition to the study, the bill appropriates $500,000 to the community colleges board of governors to augment the 1999 budget for part-time faculty health insurance. Another half a million dollars was appropriated to the colleges for improving pay for office hours worked by part-time faculty. "That was something we felt we could do now while we wait for the study to be completed," says Bancroft. "But the first step is coming to agreement." The issue has not been as heated at four-year schools, Bancroft says, because there is more uniformity across the state at the university level. For the teachers union, the bill doesn't go nearly far enough. The state's 30,000 part-timers want the governor to include $50 million in next year's state budget to start increasing pay for college instructors now. The governor's budget proposal will be released in January.

~~~~~~~~ By Pamela R. Weiger Copyright of Community College Week is the property of Cox Matthews and Associates Inc and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. Source: Community College Week, 12/27/99 - 01/10/2000, Vol. 12 Issue 10 & 11, p8, 1/2p. Item Number: 2701781