HOUSE BILL REPORT

                  HB 1559

             As Reported By House Committee on:

                      Higher Education

Title:  An act relating to faculty salaries in higher education.

Brief Description:  Requiring that faculty at the state's regional universities, state college, and community colleges be paid salaries at least equivalent to K‑12 teachers.

Sponsor(s):  Representatives Ebersole, Spanel, Basich, Prince, Jacobsen, H. Sommers, R. King, Riley, Ferguson, Holland, Winsley, Zellinsky, Van Luven, Ogden, Valle, Cooper, Rayburn, Wang, Dellwo, Silver, Moyer, Bowman, Hine, O'Brien, Fraser, Sheldon, Roland, Orr, Wood, Ludwig and Nelson.

Brief History:

  Reported by House Committee on:

Higher Education, February 20, 1991, DP.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON

HIGHER EDUCATION

Majority Report: Do pass.  Signed by 11 members:  Representatives Jacobsen, Chair; Ogden, Vice Chair; Wood, Ranking Minority Member; Basich; Dellwo; Fraser; Ludwig; Miller; Sheldon; Spanel; and Van Luven. 

Minority Report: Without recommendation.  Signed by 1 member:  Representative May, Assistant Ranking Minority Member. 

Staff:  Susan Hosch (786-7120).

Background:  For the 1990-91 fiscal year, the average salary for full-time faculty at the regional universities and The Evergreen State College is $41,339.  The average salary for full-time faculty in the community college system is $34,500.  Salary increases for higher education faculty are usually limited to the amount appropriated specifically for salaries in the biennial budget act.

For the 1990-91 fiscal year, state funded salaries for certified instructional staff in the K-12 system average $33,188.  The statewide average supplemental salary for K-12 instructional staff is estimated to be $2,244.  The supplemental salary may be paid from both state and local funds.  For the 1990-91 fiscal year, using both state and local funds, the average salary for K-12 certified instructional staff is $35,432.

Although average salaries at the four-year college and universities are higher than K-12 average salaries, some individual faculty members have lower salaries than K-12 teachers with similar education credentials and experience.  For the 1990-91 fiscal year, using state and local funds, the average salary for K-12 instructional faculty is almost $1,000 higher than the average salary for community college faculty members.

Summary of Bill:  The Legislature intends to ensure that higher education faculty are paid at least as much as K-12 teachers with equivalent education and experience.

For each fiscal period, the Legislature will appropriate to each regional university, state college, and to the community college system at least the amount of salary money each would receive by placing the full-time faculty members at the institution or the system on the K-12 salary allocation schedule.  The K-12 salary allocation schedule is defined.  For the purposes of this bill, the schedule will include both state funds and the state-wide average amount paid for local school district supplemental contracts. 

The Office of Financial Management will determine the minimum appropriations needed to meet these salary requirements for the institutions and the community college system.  By December first of each year, the office will report those minimum requirements to the House and Senate fiscal committees.

For each fiscal period, each regional university, state college, and the community college system will use salary funds appropriated by the Legislature to ensure that each full-time member of the faculty is paid an amount that is at least as much as the faculty member would receive through the K-12 salary allocation schedule, as defined in this bill.

Fiscal Note:  Requested February 11, 1991.

Appropriation:  Yes.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  By almost any measure, community college faculty members have lost buying power in the last 20 years. They are paid less than their peers in other states and less than many K-12 teachers with similar credentials and experience.  Twice as many faculty are moonlighting now, compared with the number five years ago.  The need of many faculty to take second jobs and teach extra classes impairs the quality of the education they can offer their students. 

The reasons for the salary erosion of community college faculty compared with teachers in the K-12 system are many and varied.  One prominent reason:  increments for education and experience are separately funded for teachers.  Increments for community college faculty must be taken out of the salary funds provided by the Legislature.

Testimony Against:  The four-year universities and college do not want to have their salaries determined by comparing their faculty with teachers in the K-12 system.  They would prefer to continue to be compared with peer institutions in other states.  Employee organizations for community college faculty prefer a locally determined salary distribution model rather than a statewide salary schedule.

Witnesses:  Scott Morgan, State Board for Community College Education; Allan Walton, Washington Education Association; Stirling Larsen, Highline Community College; Bill Hoffman, Highline Community College; Lenore Vest, Lower Columbia College; Sue Durrant, Council of Faculty Representatives; Lee Witter, Washington Education Association, Bellevue Community College; Gary McGlocklin, Washington Education Association, Bellevue Community College; and Tim Payne, Shoreline Community College (all in favor).