CPFA Endorses a One-Tier System in the California Community Colleges

By Carol Whaley, CPFA Director of Publications, and members of the CPFA One-tier Committee

CPFA is working to achieve a basic democratic principle: Equality. CPFA seeks to eliminate the inequality faced by part-time faculty when compared to their full-time colleagues by establishing a One-Tier System in the California Community Colleges (CCC), in which faculty with the same qualifications, experience, and responsibilities are supported and compensated proportionately according to their workload. 

The Problems with the Multi-Tier System and the Solution –  One-Tier

The majority of faculty in higher education work as contingent (often part-time) teachers, counselors, and librarians. In the California Community Colleges (CCC), all contingent faculty members are part-time by law. Under the current multi-tier system, this group faces discrimination. Even when they hold the same degrees, teach the same classes, provide the same services, and have as much or more subject-matter experience as tenured or tenure-track faculty, they are compensated significantly less and generally have no job security. Usually hired for one term at a time, they can lose scheduled assignments due to low enrollment, lack of funding, or simply because a full-time faculty member wants extra classes.  

The One-Tier Solution  

CPFA is part of a nationwide effort to eliminate multi-tier contracts in higher education.  CPFA has a clear vision of an extant one-tier faculty labor system: the Vancouver Model.  This remarkable Collective Agreement between Vancouver Community College and the Vancouver Community College Faculty Association contains many of the features that we seek: all faculty are compensated according to a single multi-step salary schedule, and after completing a probationary period, become “regularized”. Regularization, which provides ongoing employment secured by due process, true freedom of speech, and the ability to increase one’s load to 100%,  is conferred upon the individual faculty member and not on the position itself.

The Vancouver Model is one of several models that provide equal pay for equal work for part-time workers. Part-time K-12 teachers in California are paid proportionally to full-timers. There are many obstacles to achieving equality in the California Community College system. Laws are in place that work against equality, such as California Education Code 87482.5, which limits part-time teaching load (the number of classes one may teach in a particular district) to no more than 67% of a full-time faculty load.  With low pay based on separate part-time hourly pay schedules, many part-time faculty are forced to seek additional employment, often teaching in multiple districts to make ends meet. Those who do so are called “Freeway Flyers” or “Road Scholars” and may spend hours driving from one college to another, passing other faculty doing the same thing but in the opposite direction. Students are hurt by a teacher who may have less time to meet with them since they are constantly on the move. This also adds to congestion and the burning of fossil fuels. Many of these faculty use their cars as offices because they are not provided office space by the college.

The denial of job security and healthcare benefits is harmful to part-timers and their students. The high turnover of part-time faculty and their disappearance breaks the continuity and institutional knowledge of a department. It also detracts from quality interaction and mentoring of students. In addition, many part-time faculty must teach when they are ill and often get sicker and spread their illness. Unlike their full-time colleagues, their jobs are precarious, adding to their anxiety.

These conditions have been getting worse. Four decades ago, the majority of faculty in higher education had full-time, permanent positions. Now, most of these teaching positions are contingent and usually part-time.  These teachers are often called “adjuncts”, indicating that they are supplementary to their institutions rather than essential.  And yet, colleges and universities balance their budgets by relying on the much lower cost of employing cheaper “adjunct” faculty.

The responsibility for this unfair situation falls squarely on three parties: the State government, the college administrations, and the unions. Some sectors derive financial benefits from exploiting a cheap workforce that can be easily discarded, but students suffer from the long-term consequences.
The State balances its education budget on the back of the Community College system. Funding in the CCC is half or less than what the CSU, UC, and K-12 systems receive per full-time equivalent student.
The colleges save money whenever they assign a lower-paid part-timer to teach a course. 

Administrators benefit from this situation by paying themselves more and by increasing their numbers.
The unions, dominated by tenured faculty, bargain contracts with higher pay and better benefits for themselves and very little for part-time faculty. When enrollment drops occur, full-time jobs are insulated by the buffer of the many part-timers who can be laid off by simply not offering them a class.  CPFA supports labor unions, seeing them as necessary to protect the interests of workers.  Unfortunately, far too often, faculty unions do not fight for equality, but instead champion the interests of full-time faculty at the expense of part-timers.

What Would a One-Tier System Look Like?

The following provisions of the One-Tier Faculty Workforce would apply to all faculty:

1. Equal Pay for Equal Work 

• All faculty would perform the instructional duties, non-instructional duties, and shared governance established for their specific teaching area
• For faculty with loads less than 100%, non-instructional duties would be performed on a pro-rata basis.  

2. Single multi-step Salary Schedule

• All current full-time, part-time, and newly hired faculty will be placed on the same multi-step, multi-column salary schedule based on seniority, experience, and level of education. No more discounted and limited hourly pay schedules for “part-time” faculty and no more “parity pay” if and when performing “comparable duties”

3. Equal Benefits

• All faculty would have access to the same health insurance and retirement programs

4. Hiring by a single process

• All faculty, full- or part-time, would be hired according to the same process in compliance with the same qualifications for that teaching area

5. Conversion to Regular Status, Job Security, and Seniority

• After completing an established probationary period, the faculty would be awarded Regular Status (“regularized”) with the right by seniority to ongoing re-appointment 
• Current Part-time Faculty who have worked for a period of time comparable to the established probationary period without a negative evaluation would be automatically regularized at their current seniority and load
• Regular Status would confer the Right of First Refusal by seniority and the Right of Accrual up to 100% load
• Seniority would the chief factor in workload assignment
• All faculty would be placed in a single seniority system in which it is possible for some part-time faculty to be senior to some full-time faculty
• Layoffs/Reduction in Force (RIF) would happen by reverse seniority; recall rights would be determined by seniority

6. Workload and Scheduling Assignments

• There would be no workload limitations less than 100%
• All part-time faculty would be able to build their workload up to 100% based on seniority
• Newly available assignments would be offered to regularized part-time faculty before new faculty
• Faculty scheduling preferences would be considered in making assignments

7. Evaluation Transparency

• Performance observations would be limited and scheduled
• Evaluations would be distinguished as summative or formative
• Summative evaluations would be used to determine suitability for regularization and only performed during the probationary period
• Provisions for improvement would be made available and negative summative evaluations would be subject to review and grievance
• Formative evaluations would be done routinely throughout employment with the goal of improving and maintaining educational standards

8. Paid Professional Development  

• Professional development time and funds would be required and available to all faculty  
• Conference travel and tuition-support funding would be available to all faculty 

9. Enforceable Academic Freedom Protection

• All faculty would have academic freedom protection from the first day of hire 
• Protections would extend beyond normal grievance procedures with disputes being resolved by third parties independent of the institution

10. Faculty unions would honor their Duty of Fair Representation (DFR)

• As the exclusive collective bargaining agent for all faculty, the local union would be compelled to uphold the ideals of equality and democracy in extending fair representation and opposing the discrimination and elitism inherent in a multi-tier faculty workforce

CPFA is dedicated to achieving equality in the California Community College system.  This will require not only increasing funding but also changing legislation that currently limits part-time workloads and classifies part-time faculty as temporary, regardless of how long they have taught at an institution. All legislation should progress towards equal pay and due process. CPFA calls for mobilizing people to rally for equality as well as lobbying government officials to change the laws and the budget.

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About the Author

Carol‌ ‌Whaley,‌ ‌MFA,‌ ‌received‌ ‌her‌ ‌education‌ ‌at‌ ‌UC‌ ‌Santa‌ ‌Barbara‌ ‌and‌ ‌San‌ ‌Diego‌ ‌State‌ ‌University‌ ‌and‌ ‌has‌ ‌been‌ ‌part-time‌ ‌faculty‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌Drama‌ ‌Department‌ ‌at‌ ‌San‌ ‌Diego‌ ‌City‌ ‌College‌ ‌since‌ ‌2000.‌  ‌She‌ ‌is‌ ‌a‌ ‌founding‌ ‌member‌ ‌and‌ ‌current‌ ‌Vice-Chair‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌San‌ ‌Diego‌ ‌Adjunct‌ ‌Faculty‌ ‌Association‌ ‌(SDAFA)‌ ‌and‌ ‌is‌ ‌an‌ ‌active‌ ‌member‌ of ‌FACCC.‌  ‌She‌ ‌is‌ ‌the‌ ‌editor‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌Spring‌ ‌2025 ‌CPFA Journal.