|
From Sacramento (October 2010) |
 |
 |
 |
By Dennis Frisch
At this time, little seems to be going on in Sacramento. As of this writing, while there are behind the scenes discussions going on, there are no indications of any substantial movement towards a budget. There are two bills of importance to community college faculty on the Governor’s desk. SB1440, the transfer degree bill, is a rather significant piece of legislation. Community colleges would have the option of offering a transfer degree to students who complete sixty units including a area of emphasis of 18 units. California State Universities (CSU) would be required to accept these students with junior standing and require no more than sixty units to complete a major. The sixty community college units would be determined by faculty at the community college offering the transfer degree. Colleges offering this degree would not require more than sixty units; this provision was somewhat controversial early on in the deliberations. The fact that the California State Universities would now recognize the curriculum developed by community college faculty in support of a transfer degree is quite significant, since the CSUs, have been reluctant to recognize that expertise on the part of community college faculty.
The other bill awaiting the governor’s signature is SB1143, the student success bill. This bill was originally a funding bill, but was substantially changed when it looked like it might fail to get out of the senate. Now it is a study bill in part. And, it is important to note the words “in part”. The bill does require the Chancellor’s Office to create a task force to study ways to improve student success. The task force would develop a series of recommendations to improve student success based on the study phase and report to the legislature on a plan to implement the recommendations.
That is why the “in part” is significant. After the governor signs the bill the Chancellor’s Office will begin constituting the task force. This process will require great diligence on the part of faculty to be sure there are adequate numbers of faculty representatives on the task force.
Another piece of legislation that was passed in the assembly with concurrence by the senate was Assembly Concurrent Resolution 138 (ACR 138). Concurrent resolutions are not bills, but merely state the intent of the legislature on a particular issue. In this case, ACR 138 states the intent of the legislature to urge equal pay for equal work for part time faculty, recognizing the importance of equal pay to effective teaching. It also states the intent of the legislature to urge greater efforts to move towards 75% of credit courses taught by full-time faculty.
FACCC is gearing up for the November election. The Legislation Committee recommended positions on three initiatives on the ballot: Propositions 24, 25, 26. The FACCC Board of Governors adopted all three recommendations: YES on Propositions 24 and 25, and NO on Proposition 26.
The FACCC PAC has made endorsements in several assembly and senate races. For more information on those and the positions the Board of Governors has adopted on the governor’s race and other state offices go to the FACCC website. The website also has full information about the three propositions mentioned above.
|
