SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 6405

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.

As of January 22, 2020

Title: An act relating to supporting student success at community and technical colleges by increasing full-time faculty and stabilizing the use of part-time faculty.

Brief Description: Supporting student success at community and technical colleges by increasing full-time faculty and stabilizing the use of part-time faculty.

Sponsors: Senators Stanford, Liias, Wilson, C., Hasegawa, Hunt, Nguyen, Randall, Frockt and Saldaña.

Brief History:

Committee Activity: Higher Education & Workforce Development: 1/21/20.

Brief Summary of Bill

  • Requires the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to create a plan resulting in 70 percent of the faculty employed in the Community Technical College system to be full-time tenured or tenure track positions by the end of the 2027-28 school year.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Staff: Kellee Gunn (786-7429)

Background: The Community and Technical College System. The Community and Technical College (CTC) system consists of 34 college districts, led by respective college presidents, under the governance of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). Each college district enters into their own collective bargaining agreement with faculty. Under state law, certain part-time faculty may collectively bargain with full-time faculty.

Adjunct Faculty Employment Best Practices. Since 1997, the SBCTC has worked with faculty, faculty union representatives, and college administrators on best practice principles related to the issue of part-time faculty employment. The most recent of these best practices was published in March 2019, with the purpose of drafting collective bargaining language reflecting the best practice principles that local bargainers may use in their negotiations.

Summary of Bill: The SBCTC is required to create a plan that would result in 70 percent of the faculty employed in the CTC system to be full-time tenured or tenure track positions by the end of the 2027-28 school year. The plan may be implemented in phases.

The SBCTC must work collaboratively with each of the CTCs, collective bargaining representatives, and the Legislature to develop the plan. The plan must:

  1. Include all academic employees who are not tenured or on the tenure track as nontenure track faculty.

  2. Create opportunities for nontenure track faculty.

  3. Include recommendations for new standards, assessment tools, and data systems for the purpose of evaluating whether a CTC reflects the community it serves.

  4. Include recommendations for achieving equal pay for equal work for minimum compensation for nontenure track faculty. Certain considerations must be made to determine the standards for equal pay including direct student support, time in class, class preparation, grading and assessment, and office hours. Standards should reflect that full-time tenure workload is made up of 85 percent instructional work at a minimum.

  5. Establish a timeline and benchmarks for allocation of funding to achieve equal pay for equal work.

The first phase-in implementation of the plan must begin by the 2021 fall academic quarter.

The SBCTC must report to the higher education committees of the Legislature by December 1, 2020, and on December 1st every two years thereafter, until 2028.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Requested on January 18, 2020.

Creates Committee/Commission/Task Force that includes Legislative members: No.

Effective Date: The bill contains an emergency clause and takes effect immediately.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: Our CTC system relies increasingly on part-time faculty. We need to pay attention to the workforce we rely on for the CTCs. Part-time faculty receive lower pay and benefits than their full-time counterparts. They must deal with long commutes, and instability. This reduces time that the part-time faculty can commit to their students. This bill is the beginning of a process. With the major investment by the Legislature of the Washington college grant, more students will become full-time students. We can directly help these students' outcomes by investing in a full-time faculty. Part-time faculty cannot currently be fully involved in their campus community at the detriment of students. Throughout the years I have seen textbooks increase in price. As full-time faculty, I was able to adapt course and create materials for my students that would not have been possible if I was part-time faculty. More tenured faculty would be able to try different methods of improving student learning. Part-time faculty are usually not scheduled or paid to provide after class hours for students. Many part-time faculty must leave immediately after class to get to their next teaching engagement. All faculty must be engaged in this initiative. Part-time employment deprives all faculty from meeting the needs of students.

OTHER: Our primary concern is funding. There are others concerns with the statewide percentage required of CTC faculty be be full-time. This bill requires 70 percent of the people, not instructors, to be full time. A little over 100 full time faculty is estimated to cost about $10 million per biennium. And there is also a concern regarding statewide standards for equal pay for equal work. The collective bargaining process, at the local level, is the best place to determine equal pay for equal work.

Persons Testifying: PRO: Senator Derek Stanford, Prime Sponsor; Carolyn Brotherton, AFT Washington; Jacqui Cain, Pierce College faculty, AFT Local 4821; Mark Gorecki, Centralia College faculty, AFT; Tobi Rosenberg, Bellevue College faculty, WEA. OTHER: John Boesenberg, State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: No one.