Copyright© 2000 by School Services of California, Inc.

September 15, 2000

CPEC Contracts for the Completion of
Part-Time Faculty Study

In accordance with AB 420 (Chapter 738, Statutes of 1999, Wildman), the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) has contracted for the completion of a study that will review part-time faculty compensation patterns at California Community Colleges. According to CPEC, the purpose of their "Project Charter" is to meet the stated requirements of the legislation and, as appropriate, expand on these requirements to present a balanced and objective analysis of compensation patterns at the California Community Colleges as they relate to part-time faculty.

According to AB 420, the Legislature's interest on the issue of pay and benefit equity for part-time community college faculty in part grew from concerns that community college districts were hiring less expensive part-time faculty instead of full-time faculty for "financial reasons alone."

Historically, California's community colleges have hired part-time faculty to meet short-term programmatic needs, or to bring in full-time professionals with expertise to teach a course. Generally, the current salary schedules for part-time faculty provides compensation for instructional time and a minimal amount of non-instructional time. By comparison, in addition to instructional time, full-time faculty also receive compensation for non-instructional activities such as research, advising, preparation, grading, and office hours (the State Budget has included funding to pay for office hours for part-time faculty in the past two-years). Some community college stakeholders are concerned that part-time faculty are not fully compensated for their work. In addition, concerns have also been raised that there is a subset of part-time faculty that work the equivalent of a full-time teaching load between multiple community college districts or have worked part-time for multiple years who do not qualify for the same pay or benefits as full-time faculty.

CPEC recognizes that the issue of community college part-time salary compensation is surrounded by significant controversy. Thus, its primary goal is to provide a balanced, objective, and complete review of the issue. The following are specific goals that CPEC will use to guide the completion of the study:

• Establish the context for policy making related to community college compensation. This will include a review of how the current system was established and what other states are doing in this area
  
• Clearly define the terms and assumptions that are used in the study. For instance, instructional versus non-instructional staff and activities, definition of regional areas and disciplines, and calculations to compare salary rates
  
• Acquire and review data specific to California from multiple sources to use for analytical purposes
  
• Acquire and review data from states comparable to California
  
• Quantify any significant disparities in compensation between part-time and full-time faculty. This process will include controlling for variation based on size and type of district, type of discipline, experience, tenure, and educational attainment
  
• Use both quantitative and qualitative data to support finding and analysis
  
• Develop policy options and recommendations that are practical for the Legislature to implement

Once funding became available in June 2000 for the study from the State Budget, CPEC hired the independent consulting firm MGT of America to assist with completing all tasks related to data collection, analysis, and documentation of findings. After MGT submits its report, CPEC will issue a separate report that will add CPEC's recommendations to MGT's findings. CPEC estimates that work will be completed on the preliminary findings by December 15, 2000 and the complete study will be available by March 2001.

Community college part-time faculty advocates hope that CPEC's findings and recommendations will lead to increased compensations levels in the community college's 2001-02 budget that are supported by Governor Davis. Attempts to provide categorical funding for part-time faculty compensation in recent years have failed. The Board of Governors 2001-02 budget request for the system will likely contain a $75 million proposal for part-time faculty compensation.

After CPEC releases its report and Governor Davis takes final action on the 2001-02 State Budget, maybe the issues of part-time faculty compensation can be put to rest at least for a while.

--Arnold Bray