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

Sponsors: Representatives Sells, Dunn, Campbell, Kenney, Fromhold, Appleton, Ormsby, Ericks, Hasegawa, Williams, Moeller, Darneille, McCoy, Chase, Simpson, Miloscia, Schual-Berke, Quall, McCune and Santos.

Hearing Date: 2/17/05

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 next 10 years. 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:

In the 2005-07 biennial appropriations act and thereafter, the Legislature must appropriate sufficient funds for allocation to the community and technical colleges to implement and maintain pay equity for part-time college faculty. The approach to providing pay equity shall be the one described in the recommendations of the Best Practices Task Force convened in 1996.

Salary schedules are subject to local collective bargaining and must reflect that some part-time faculty should be paid on a pro rata basis, and others should be paid on a parity basis.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

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