Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Higher Education Committee

HB 1353

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Requires community and technical colleges to create conversion plans that would have 75 percent of state funded faculty in full-time, tenure track positions by 2015.
Requires the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to make budget requests for faculty conversions until targets are met.
Requires the community and technical colleges to create plans to ensure that part-time faculty and internal candidates get priority consideration for full-time positions.

Background:

According to reports from the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), there were 9,673 full- and part-time state funded faculty members teaching at community and technical colleges in the fall quarter of 2007. Of those, 3,591 were full-time faculty and 6,082 were part-time. Community and technical college full-time equivalent faculty (FTEF) increased by 2 percent from the previous fall, compared with 1 percent increase in state-supported students.

During the same quarter, 55 percent of state-supported teaching occurred through full-time faculty, while 45 percent occurred through part-time instructors. The percent of instruction taught by full-time faculty has remained essentially stable for the last five years. A full-time load is defined by each campus and may vary be discipline and mode of instruction.

The ratio of part-time to full-time faculty varied significantly depending on course area. Workforce and academic instruction is primarily by full-time faculty while the reverse is true for pre-college and basic skills instruction.

The median age for full-time faculty was 52 in the fall quarter of 2006, an increase from a median age of 50 in 2002. The SBCTC calculates that nearly 60 percent of full-time faculty will need to be replaced in the next 15 to 20 years due to retirement.

Summary of Bill:

Conversion of Faculty Teaching Assignments

Each community and technical college must create a conversion plan to create more full-time, tenure track positions. The plan must be submitted to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) by October 1, 2009 and must include strategies to have 75 percent of state-funded faculty in full time positions by 2015. The plan cannot include discharging currently employed part-time faculty who have taught in the college for three or more years.

The plan will be submitted each year to the SBCTC as a request for funding for the new full-time positions. The SBCTC is obligated to make a budget request for this purpose to the Legislature. The SBCTC must also submit progress reports regarding faculty conversions to the Legislature by December 1, 2009 and biennially thereafter until 2015.

Notification of Employment Opportunities

Each community and technical college must establish a process to notify part-time faculty of employment assignments for which they are qualified. The colleges must give these faculty priority consideration for these positions.

Colleges must also notify qualified internal applicants of tenure-track positions. These applicants should also be given priority consideration. The "notification" will include notification of job openings or a job interview for positions where minimum qualifications have been met.