AB 1856 is making its way through California’s legislative process. It has moved out of the state assembly and will be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee next month.
This bill is expected to be approved and will then be put onto the Governor’s desk for his signature; he has until the end of September to sign it.
Below is our letter sent to Assembly Member Medina back in April 2022 as the bill was about to be heard by the assembly, the first step in the state’s legislative process. Our letter expresses CPFA’s endorsement of AB 1856, which would raise the workload cap on part-time faculty to up to 85% of a full time equivalent.
As stated in our letter of support, AB 1856 is not only a “no-cost” bill for the state, it has the potential to actually save districts money, by giving them more flexibility in hiring for on-demand classes, and by reducing the need for last minute new-hire orientations and evaluations.
Most importantly, this bill would greatly improve the working conditions on part-time faculty and ease the burden on those scrambling to make up a full-time salary, often by commuting from one classroom to the next across multiple campuses.
Still more valuable, is the dramatic improvement to the learning environment that this bill will undoubtedly bring about; as evident from previous cap increases, students benefit profoundly, not just from the availability of more high-demand course offerings, but also by increasing the time that part-time faculty spend on a single campus, there are increased opportunities that students have to interact with their part-time instructors outside of normal classroom hours.