GROUP REQUIREMENTS (Education/Training)

Group I Less than Group II (A person with fewer than 72 college semester units receives one group differential less than a person with a comparable number of years of experience.)

Group II B.A. + 42 semester units, M.A.

Group III B.A. + 56 semester units, M.A. + 14 semester units

Group IV M.A. + 28 semester units

Group V M.A. + 42 semester units

Group VI M.A. + 56 semester units

Group VII Doctorate

1. Academic faculty with a Bachelor's Degree shall be allowed a maximum of 14 semester (21 quarter) units in excess of 124 semester (186 quarter) units required for the degree in figuring their salary placement. Further unit credit shall be granted only for units taken after awarding of the B.A. degree.

2. The Master's Degree is defined as equal to 32 semester (48 quarter) units acquired after the B.A. Excess unit credit is granted beyond 32 semester (48 quarter) units.

3. Transferred units applied toward a degree by the degree-granting institution shall be the only units approved for placement on the salary schedule.

STEP REQUIREMENTS (Experience)

One step credit shall be awarded for each year of experience that conforms to the following District standards:

1. Prior teaching or school/college/university experience shall be recognized for salary placement only if presented in acceptable documented form to the Office of Human Resources before the following dates or salary shall reflect only that information received:

September 15 if employed for fall

February 28 if employed for spring

June 30 if employed for summer

January 5 if employed for winter

2. Prior teaching or school/college/university experience shall be acceptable only from fully accredited public, private, or parochial educational institutions and only if performed during the regular academic year.

3. Steps on the salary schedule will be allowed for each year of prior teaching or school/college/university experience according to one of the following criteria:

a. The experience was on a full-time or partial contract basis; the assignment extended over a period of at least 75% of the days that the institution was in regular session for a term or semester; and the employer has officially certified the percentage of full-time assigned and the percentage of the regular term or semester worked. The assignments will be accumulated and one step on the salary schedule will be allowed for each full year, full-time equivalent which has been performed.

b. The experience was on an hourly basis, in which case one step will be allowed for each thirty (30) semester units of college-level teaching or each 1,080 hours of college-level academic non-teaching work performed. No more than one (l) year of experience shall be allowed for assignments which occur in a single school/college year.

4. Experience in any of the following classifications or areas shall not count for salary placement credit: student teaching, college teaching assistantship, day-to-day substituting, and/or classified position.

5. Up to two additional steps may be granted for relevant work experience obtained prior to SMC employment when certain conditions exist, with the approval of the Vice President, Academic Affairs or Human Resources Office. The District will determine each year, prior to April, which disciplines and positions are eligible for additional steps the following year. Potential eligibility for additional steps applies to both initial placement and previously hired faculty.

Criteria used by the Vice President, Academic Affairs include, but are not limited to:

a. Academic discipline has been identified by the Human Resources Office in conjunction with the Vice President, Academic Affairs as a “hard to fill” discipline.

b. Experience must be directly relevant to the classes currently offered in the academic discipline.

c. The faculty member submits a request together with a justification of the proposed work experience as well as proof of that work experience, through the department chair and the Human Resources Office to the Vice President, Academic Affairs.

d. Requests from current full-time faculty may be submitted only during a period when the District is actively recruiting (announcing for) a position in the discipline.

e. A year of vocational experience for step movement is defined as full-time paid experience for a period of at least 1,500 hours in any twelve (12)-month period. In order to be applied toward step placement, this experience must be directly related to the assignment of the faculty member. A maximum of 6 years of non-teaching vocational credit may be granted, subject to considerations in item 3.

f. For 1995 only, new faculty who submitted requests prior to February 28, 1995 (under the 1994 contract) may be granted up to two additional steps for relevant work experience obtained prior to SMC employment as a tenure-track faculty member, with the approval of the Vice President, Academic Affairs. Non-teaching work experience shall be directly relevant to the classes currently offered in the academic discipline, and shall be for a period of not less than 1500 hours for each year of credit granted.

6. For faculty whose initial placement occurs in a semester or intersession other than Fall, initial placement will be re-evaluated as of the first Fall semester of employment, and upward step adjustment will be made at that time if warranted.