Copyright© 2000 by School Services of California, Inc.
By the Way . . .
50% Law Update. In the last meeting of the Chancellor's Office 50% Law Taskforce, the recommendation to further study, and not change, the statute to focus on the "salaries of faculty" rather than "salaries of classroom instructors" has split the taskforce members. No consensus has been reached. In addition, the Consultation Council met on November 30, 2000 to discuss the matter and no consensus was reached at that meeting. Individuals speaking on behalf of counselors told Chancellor Nussbaum and members of consultation that districts were beginning to issue March 15 notices to counselors¾blaming the 50% law as the reason.
It appears that the Chancellor's Office, a number of CEOs and others, including faculty groups, are not interested in going to the Legislature to change the statute. There is a concern that if the Legislature gets involved, anything could happen. Chief Instruction Officers and Chief Student Services Officers have recommended that there be a minimum standard for inclusion of counselor and librarian faculty, as well as supporting locally determined reassigned time for faculty members to participate in governance and instructional leadership roles.
There seems to be consensus that a 1961 law designed to limit K-12 class size is not appropriate in its application to today'' community college programs. However, at this time, it does not appear that the system as a whole has the political will to make any significant changes to the 50% law.