HOUSE BILL REPORT

                  HB 2812

 

             As Reported By House Committee On:

                      Higher Education

 

Title:  An act relating to higher education.

 

Brief Description:  Reducing financial disparities between part‑time and full‑time faculty at community and technical colleges.

 

Sponsors:  Representatives Jacobsen, Carrell, Quall, Conway, Brumsickle, Basich, Sheahan, Cole, D. Schmidt, Scheuerman, Kessler, Murray, Regala and Mason.

 

Brief History:

  Committee Activity:

Higher Education:  1/30/96, 2/1/96 [DPS].

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

 

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  Signed by 11 members:  Representatives Carlson, Chairman; Mulliken, Vice Chairman; Jacobsen, Ranking Minority Member; Mason, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Basich; Benton; Blanton; Delvin; Goldsmith; Scheuerman and Sheahan.

 

Staff:  Suzi Morrissey (786-7120).

 

Background:  Since 1983, the number of part-time faculty in the community college system has grown significantly.  According to a 1995 estimate, the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges saves $57.3 million annually by having classes taught by part-time rather than full-time faculty.

 

A 1990 survey by the Washington Federation of Teachers indicated that 60 percent of part-time instructors in the community and technical college system rely on their earnings as instructors for the primary source of household income.  Additionally, part-time faculty salaries at community colleges in Washington are between 35 and 57 percent of full-time faculty salaries at those institutions.  Salaries for all faculty in community colleges and technical colleges may be bargained locally.

 

Summary of Substitute Bill:  Over the next three biennia, the Legislature intends to provide funding to bring salaries of part-time faculty into parity with salaries of full-time faculty teaching in community colleges and technical colleges.

 

The state Board for Community and Technical Colleges will convene a task force to devise a method and a time table for bringing part-time faculty salaries up to parity with full-time faculty salaries.  The task force will be comprised of representatives from the Governor's office, the Legislature, faculty bargaining organizations, college administrators, and the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

 

The task force must report recommendations to the appropriate committees of the Legislature by December 15, 1996.

 

The sum of $3,700,000 is appropriated to the state board to begin addressing disparities between the salaries of full-time and part-time instructors.  The board will consult with faculty bargaining organizations before the moneys are distributed.  The appropriation is for the fiscal year that ends on June 30, 1997.

 

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:  The state Board for Community and Technical Colleges will convene the task force that will include college administrators.  The fiscal year referenced in the appropriations clause is corrected.

 

Appropriation:  The sum of $3,700,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

 

Fiscal Note:  Available.

 

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

 

Testimony For:  Part-time faculty carry about 50 percent of the credit-bearing teaching load in the community and technical college system.  Over the past decade, the system has increasingly come to rely on part-time faculty to teach courses that would have historically been taught by full-time faculty.  Although some part-timers have jobs outside of academe, many are professional educators who are unable to obtain full-time teaching positions.  Based on current pay scales, if part-time faculty worked a full load of classes, they would earn from 35 to 57 percent of the pay earned by full-time instructors for teaching the same classes.  This problem is not confined to the community and technical college system.  Public baccalaureate institutions are also beginning to rely more heavily on part-time faculty, and are paying these faculty very low salaries.

 

Testimony Against:  None.

 

Testified:  Representative Ken Jacobsen, prime sponsor; Wendy Rader-Konofalski, Washington Federation of Teachers (pro); Vincent Troccoli and Glenn Ness, Pierce Community College (pro); Ben Meredith, Everett Community College and Olympic Community College (pro); Michael Kischner, North Seattle Community College (pro); Larry Lael, state Board for Community and Technical Colleges (pro); Richard Alumbaugh, Central Washington faculty senate (pro); and Lenore Vest, Association for Higher Education, Washington Education Association (pro).