Brief Description: Requiring pay equity for community and technical college part-time faculty.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research & Development (originally sponsored by Senators Kohl-Welles, Delvin, Shin, Spanel, Carrell, Fairley, Keiser, Roach, Jacobsen, Poulsen, Kline, Pridemore, McAuliffe, Weinstein, Eide, Berkey, Rasmussen and Rockefeller).

Hearing Date: 3/29/05

Staff: Barbara McLain (786-7383).

Background:

In 1996, the Legislature directed the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to develop a 10-year plan and submit recommendations to address pay disparity among full and part-time college faculty. The SBCTC convened a Best Practices Task Force which submitted a report in the Fall of 1996.

Among the topics discussed in the report was whether part-time faculty should be paid on a "pro rata" basis or a "parity" basis compared to full-time faculty. Pro rata assumes that part-time faculty have proportionally the same teaching, counseling, and administrative workloads as full-time faculty. A pro rata pay schedule would pay a half-time faculty at 50 percent of full-time. Parity pay assumes that part-time faculty do not always have the same non-teaching duties as full-time faculty, and could therefore be paid on a lower salary schedule.

The report recommended a combination of the two approaches, to be implemented over the ensuing 10-year period. At that time, the estimated cost to implement pay equity over the 10-year period was $15.8 million for each biennium. The Legislature has since provided additional funding to address part-time faculty pay, but these amounts have not equaled the requests by the SBCTC.

Summary of Bill:

It is the goal of the Legislature to provide sufficient funding in the 2005-2007, 2007-2009, and 2009-2011 biennia, within available funds, for community and technical colleges to implement and maintain pro rata pay for part-time college faculty.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Requested on March 23, 2005.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.