Copyright© 1999 by School Services of California, Inc.
By The Way. . .
AB 420 Study Gets Underway. The California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) held a meeting with faculty organizations and other interested parties this past week regarding the AB 420 study. As you may recall, AB 420 (Wildman, D-Los Angeles) becomes effective on January 1, 2000, and requires CPEC to report to the Legislature and Governor matters related to part-time community college instructors.
Charles Ratliff, CPEC Deputy Director, stated that it is very doubtful that CPEC would be able to meet the deadlines imposed by the bill. The primary reason is a lack of fiscal and staff resources. The Legislature and Governor have not had to provide any fiscal resources necessary to carry out the study, at this time. CPEC's position is that to develop a quality policy document with data that can be explained and defended will take both time and resources.
The faculty unions were surprised by CPEC's position on the matter. They would like CPEC to expedite its research. One union representative indicated that a "quick and dirty" study is all that is needed. Their position is quite clear they want a study that would validate their potential request for an additional $50 million in the community college budget for part-time faculty before the "May Revise" is released.
Future meetings are planned and it will remain to be seen if a comprehensive study is forthcoming, and the timelines that are called for in AB 420 can be met.