California

FederationofTeachers

One

KaiserPlaza,Suite

1440O

aklandC

A94612

Non-Profi t

Organization

U.S.Postage

PaidO

aklandC

APerm

itNo.1765

An AFT appleNew local president is no stranger to communitycollege unionism.

page 3

November 7 General ElectionCFT’s recommendations, a closer look at Props 1Dand 88, and the importance of being active in theelection campaign.

page 4

GASB 45 and your healthDistricts are trying to jettison retiree health care cov-erage. Looking behind this acronym helps us tounderstand why, and what to do about it.

page 7

Community College Council of the California Federation of TeachersAmerican Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO

Volume 38, Number 1 n October 2006

ANG

ELID

ESFO

RG

OVE

RNO

RCA

MPA

IGN

PHO

TO

Respecting community servicean interview with Phil Angelidespage 4

The California Federation of Teachers is an affiliate of the American Federation ofTeachers, AFL-CIO.

The CFT represents over 120,000 educationalemployees working at every level of educationin California. The CFT is committed to raisingthe standards of the profession and to securing the conditions essential to providethe best service to California’s students.

President Mary Bergan

Secretary-Treasurer Michael Nye

Perspective is published four times during theacademic year by CFT’s Community CollegeCouncil.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE COUNCIL

President Marty Hittelman Los Angeles College Guild, Local 1521 2550 North Hollywood Way, Ste. 400Burbank, CA 91505 Email martyhitt@aol.com Direct inquiries regarding the Community College Council to Marty Hittelman.

Southern Vice President Jim MahlerAFT Guild, San Diego Community CollegeLocal 19313737 Camino Del Rio South, Suite 410San Diego, CA 92108

Northern Vice President Dean MurakamiLos Rios College Federation of TeachersAFT Local 22791127 - 11th Street, #806Sacramento, CA 95814

Secretary Donna NaceyLos Rios College Federation of Teachers,Local 22791127 - 11th Street, #806Sacramento, CA 95814

Editor Fred GlassLayout Design Action Collective

EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONSDirect editorial submissions to: Editor, Community College Perspective.California Federation of TeachersOne Kaiser Plaza, Suite 1440Oakland, California 94612Telephone 510-832-8812 Fax 510-832-5044Email cftoakland@igc.org Web www.cft.org

TO ADVERTISEContact the CFT Secretary-Treasurer for a current rate card and advertising policies.

Mike Nye, Secretary-TreasurerCalifornia Federation of Teachers2550 North Hollywood Way, Ste. 400Burbank, CA 91505 Telephone 818-843-8226 Fax 818-843-4662 Email CFTMikeNye@aol.com Although advertisements are screened as carefully as possible, acceptance of an advertisement does not imply CFT endorsementof the product or service.

Perspective is a member of the InternationalLabor Communications Association, AFT Communications Association, and Western Labor Communications Association.Perspective is printed and mailed by the all-union,environmentally friendly Alonzo Printing in Hayward, California. It is printed on 20% post-consumer content recycled paper using soy-based inks.

2 n PERSPECTIVE October 2006

EDITORIAL

MARK YOUR 2006-07 CALENDARNovember 7 Election Day

December 2 Community College Council, Hilton Oakland Airport

January 19 Deadline to submit constitutional amendments for CFT Convention

January 27 CFT Committee meetings, Burbank Airport Hilton

February 2 Deadline to submit resolutions for CFT Convention

March 16-18 CFT Convention, Wilshire Grand, Los Angeles

pay equity for part-timers.In 1975 the average wage paid

to part-time instructors was$12.50 per each instructionalhour.The average salary for full-time faculty was $18,006 peryear. Using a pro rata calculatedat 15 hours per week for 37weeks for part-time salary com-pared with an 85% workload forfull-time faculty (subtracting outoffice hours and committeework), the pro-rata rate was atabout 45% in 1975.Today theaverage hourly rate is about $55per per instructional hour andthe average full-time salary isabout $71,000. Using the samecalculation as before, this equatesto an average pro-rata rate of50.6%.This year we will seeklegislation to fund increases inpart-time pay and benefits forpart-time faculty.

In November of 1975, theCalifornia Community andJunior College Association(which has morphed into thecurrent Community CollegeLeague of California) represent-ing administrators in the systemprepared a paper entitled “Part-Time Faculty:Who,Why,When,and Where?”The report statedthat as of fall semester 1974,there were approximately 15,000

full-time and 27,000 part-timefaculty teaching in credit pro-grams.Today the number standsat approximately 19,000 full-time and 35,000 part-time facul-ty—no progress after all theseyears.

This year we will again seekfunding directed at increasingthe number of full-time facultyin the community colleges.Anoriginal investment was made in1989 and 1990 to increase thenumber of full-time faculty butno other monies have been spe-cially earmarked for increasingthe full-time/part-time ratiosince.With Schwarzenegger wehave little chance of any directedfunding toward employee needs.Angelides is more receptive tothe needs of labor (includingcommunity college employees).He has proposed to increaseeducational expenditures by tax-ing the upper income bracketsand closing the loopholes usedby corporations to avoid payingtheir fair share of taxes.

On January 28, 1976 the leg-islative committee of the Boardof Governors of the CaliforniaCommunity Colleges held a con-ference on the status, benefits, andrights of the part-time teacher inthe community colleges of Cali-fornia. Hy Weintraub, president ofthe Community College Council(and father of current AFT Local1603 president Debbie Wein-traub) and Jeff Kerwin were twoof the panelists.The currentBoard of Governors has request-ed in their “2007-08 BudgetChange Proposal” an additional$12 million for part-time officehours and health insurance, $45million to increase the full-time/part-time ratio by 2%, and$50 million as a second install-ment of the funding for compen-sation equity for part-timefaculty.

What have we learned from allof this? Progress is often slow.Vigilance is often not enough.Democratic majorities in thelegislature mean little if they arepaired with an anti-laborRepublican governor. Localunions can win local victoriesbut some victories can only bewon at the state level.We mustwork for the election of some-one who has his heart withlabor. That someone is PhilAngelides.

I recently ran across some oldCommunity College Councilminutes from the early 1970s. Ifound that the battle for part-time equity and increased full-time employment has beengoing on for at least thirty years.In 1974 Jeff Kerwin, a part-timefaculty member from LaneyCollege, spoke at the CCCmeeting in support of the inclu-sion of part-time faculty mem-bers in AFT locals. He said that“The current separation andghettoization of part-time facul-ty within the colleges has creat-ed a second-class economyteacher, program, and student,”and concluded that “quality can-not be protected in one class andallowed to deteriorate in anoth-er.” His words are as applicabletoday as they were back in 1974.

In September 1974 the Com-munity College Legislative Newsreported that “One of the pri-mary problem areas within theCalifornia community collegesystem is the plight of the part-time teacher. No longer is thepart-time teacher always a per-son who has another, full-timejob.The part-timers are paid lessthan pro-rata wages, are deniedfringe benefits, and are not pro-tected from arbitrary dismissal.To begin to correct these prob-lems the CCC has undisputedleadership in the advocacy of theneeds of part-time teachers by

the introduction of two impor-tant bills.”AB 2998 (HowardBerman) called for pro-rata payand fringe benefits for part-timecommunity college teachers.AB3979 (Cory) called for the samehearing rights as those affordedto contract faculty with regardto dismissal (i.e. only dismissalfor cause and the right to ahearing). Both bills passed theAssembly but died in the Senate.

In 1975 AB 430 was intro-duced calling for pro-rata pay forpart-time teachers and again theeffort was defeated. UnderDemocratic Governor Davissome progress was made withregard to pay equity, pay foroffice hours, and medical benefitsfor part-time faculty. No equityprogress was made under anyRepublican governor includingGovernor Schwarzenegger, whowent out of his way to veto smallincreases in office hours and ben-efits allocations. Phil Angelideshas publicly come out in favor of

AFT community college faculty membership in 1974 stood at just under 3,500.Today our mem-bership exceeds 20,000 and we represent more than 30,000 community college employees—themajority of community college faculty in California. The AFT is the largest higher education

union in the country. Our locals have made progress on a number of fronts.Working conditions are bet-ter, rights are better protected, and we are a partner in policy development in most districts. But somethings have not changed much.

Angelides has proposed to increase educational

expenditures by taxing the upper income brackets and

closing the loopholes used by corporations to avoid

paying their fair share of taxes.

Taking the LeadMarty Hittelman, CFT Community College Council President

Print is nice. Electrons are faster.

The Perspective brings you information you need to know on a quarterly basis. For the mostcurrent union news, recent media coverage of education issues, and key information about theCalifornia Federation of Teachers and its activities, visit the CFT website regularly.

www.cft.orgIt’s not an either/or. Come see us online.

On front cover: Phil Angelides marches for education funding during CFTconvention in March, 2006. ANGELIDES FOR GOVERNOR CAMPAIGN PHOTO

And miles to go before we sleep

Legal maneuversThe LRCFT’s first response

was to demand the district“negotiate the release of suchaggregate information....” Nextit asked the district’s GeneralCounsel and the union’s attor-ney, Bob Bezemek, to discuss thepossibility of denying the requestfor information.The LRCFT’sobjective was to provide the dis-trict with a rationale to eitherrefuse to provide the informa-tion to PAP or at least inform

The Los Rios College Fed-eration of Teachers(LRCFT) is fighting a

serious threat to its bargainingunit members that has broadacademic freedom implications.Using the California PublicRecords Act as its authority, aprivate corporation doing busi-ness as “Pick-A-Prof.com” (PAP)recently requested that AmericanRiver College in Sacramentohand over the grades of all stu-dents in each class with an enroll-ment of ten or more students.

According to its track recordat other public colleges and uni-versities around the country, PAP(colloquially referred to as“Pick-on-a-Prof”) places theinformation on its web site. Itsolicits “subscriptions” from stu-dent associations and individualstudents for the “privilege” ofaccessing the information. Stu-dents use the information on thePAP Web site to shop forinstructors based on the leniencyof grading practices.

The LRCFT viewed the PAP

information request as a shame-less assault on its members’ free-dom to protect their system ofgrading and determine the levelof academic rigor in their classes,without fear of diminishedenrollment as a result of studentsmigrating to instructors withmore lenient grading practices.According to one professor at theUniversity of Texas,Austin,“therewere clear and definite enroll-ment patterns that emerged fromthe Pick-A-Prof reviews based ongrading percentages.”

Los Rios AFT stands up to PAP

“As a kid you don’t particular-ly pay attention to your father’swork,” she observes. But herfather’s work was harder toignore than most. In the 1960she ran the largest communitycollege faculty union local in thestate from their home.

Debra Weintraub started tutor-ing in the Peralta district in themid-70s. Then she went back toschool and earned her teachingcredential and master’s degree ineducation with a specializationin teaching reading. She washired as a part-time instructor atLaney College in the early 80s,teaching basic skills English anddevelopmental reading and writ-ing.

She wanted to teach full-time.But during the last decade of thetwentieth century very few full-time positions were listed by theLaney College English Depart-ment.When the departmentfinally advertised for a full-timeposition in 1999, it hired fourwithin a few months. One wasWeintraub.

“When I was a part-timer, Iwas minimally involved,” shesays. “I went to some meetings,but like many part-timers my lifewasn’t centered on campus. I

went to meetings to hear aboutcontract developments.”

Besides, she was a mother, rais-ing two children with her hus-band Jim, who is a SeniorManager at Lawrence BerkeleyNational Lab.

One problemAfter becoming full-time, and

with her children older, she waselected co-chair of her union

chapter at Laney with businessinstructor Ron Jones. A fewyears later she ran for unionvice-president.“And then,” shesays,“after Michael decided toretire, he asked if I would fill inthe remainder of his term.” Sheran unopposed. “That’s one ofour problems,” she acknowl-edges,“getting people to serve.There aren’t too many vying forpower.”

Thanks to her lineage,Wein-traub is quite clear about theimportance of activism. Herfather Hy was a leader in the LosAngeles Community CollegeFaculty Guild,AFT Local 1521,starting in the early 60s.Themeeting of the AFT Local 1021committee that decided to splitoff community college instruc-tors from their K-12 colleaguesto form their own union washeld in his living room. He wasthe founding president of theCFT’s Community CollegeCouncil in 1971—not to men-tion the editor of the CCC Per-spective in its earliest days. Hereceived the CFT’s highesthonor, the Ben Rust award,when he finally retired.

“My dad was a union activist,and very instrumental in helping

bring collective bargaining intoCalifornia’s schools,”Weintraubnotes. “He was devoted to AFTand CFT. He was always goingplaces for the union and bring-ing home work for us kids todo; we were always stuffingenvelopes.” He imparted to hischildren the lesson “that teachersmust have a voice, have rights,have protections,’ and therefore, astrong union. Consequently, oneof her goals is to “get moremembers to do more things andget the union to be more visibleon the campuses.”

Building bridgesShe hopes to build bridges

between entities that seem tofunction as islands: “It’s almostlike union and senate are twodifferent bodies,”Weintraublaments.“They’re not well con-nected. It’s not that they’reantagonistic, but more thatthey’re off in different worlds. I’dreally like the faculty to feel thatthese are two bodies that repre-sent us in harmony with oneanother.” She wants to forge astrong connection with theother district unions, and would

“love it if the district could fig-ure out how to hire more part-timers as full-timers, and morefull-timers in general.”

She detests how “the employ-ment system divides people intodifferent interests.”

She cites a conversation with afull-time instructor nearingretirement as an example of thedifficulty of the tasks in front ofher. He had been a Teamsterbefore going into teaching, felt akeen identity with unions, andbelieved in fairness in the work-place. He told Weintraub howunfair he thought it was that twopeople teaching the same cours-es were making differentamounts of money simplybecause of different academicexperiences.

“But you’re working side byside with part-timers doing thesame work, and making muchmore than they do,” she pointedout. He said,“Oh, that’s a differ-ent situation.”

Says Weintraub,“I’d like facul-ty to recognize we’re in thistogether; we’re all in the sameboat.”

Fred Glass

October 2006 PERSPECTIVE n 3

“My dad was a union activist,

and very instrumental in

helping bring collective

bargaining into California’s

schools. He was devoted to

AFT and CFT. He was always

going places for the union

and bringing home work for

us kids to do; we were

always stuffing envelopes.”

MEMBER PROFILE

Hy Weintraub’s daughter has just taken the reins as president of the Peralta Federation of Teachers,AFT Local 1603. Elected to succeed Michael Mills, who retired in the middle of his secondtwo-year term, Debra Weintraub’s apprenticeship for the PFT leadership post began before she

was employed by the Peralta Community College District.Newly elected president Debra Weintraub of the Peralta Federationof Teachers, AFT Local 1603, is on the move to represent faculty.

JIMKRU

PNIC

KPH

OTO

PAP continued on page 6

An AFT apple fallsclose to the tree

Debbie Weintraub

It does not require muchprescience to recognize thatif grade percentages are dis-closed, students might avoid“tough” graders with highstandards. Thus, one caneasily imagine that part-timers, many of whom haveworked for many years, willlose their jobs, or lose units.

4 n PERSPECTIVE October 2006

POLITICS

California State Treasurerand Democratic candidatefor governor Phil Angelideskindly agreed to an inter-view with the CCC Perspec-tive in September. Thefollowing exchange with thePerspective has been edited.

Perspective: The Master Planfor Higher Education in Californiaput in place a tuition-free communi-ty college system, so that all Califor-nians might have access to highereducation. Under George Deukme-jian, fees were introduced, and theyhave been increasing ever since.Currently they are at $26 per unit.What is your position on studenttuition and fees in the communitycolleges?

Angelides: Unlike GovernorSchwarzenegger—who increasedstudent tuition and fees by over44%, cut state financial aid, andtried to eliminate all the fundingfor programs that help disadvan-taged students to prepare for col-lege—I believe affordable highereducation is essential to buildCalifornia’s competitive strengthand expand the middle class, thebedrock of the economy.

As Governor, I will work tobroaden college opportunity and

make it truly accessible andaffordable for low-income andmiddle class families to give theirchildren the education they needto succeed. I will immediatelyroll back college fees to the levelthey were before ArnoldSchwarzenegger took office.These lower fees will cut thecost of a two-year communitycollege degree by about $120; ofan undergraduate degree at Cali-fornia State University by nearly$2,000 and at the University ofCalifornia by almost $5,000.Also, I will boost rigorous careerand technical courses by increas-ing by 50 percent the number ofCalifornia PartnershipAcademies for high school stu-dents seeking work or commu-nity college certificates upongraduation.

Perspective: If you reduce feesand tuition, how would we properlyfund the community college system?

Angelides: Though Californiafaces a $4.5 billion deficit, I haveproposed a responsible plan tobalance the budget and increaseProp. 98 funding by $400 mil-lion above the projected base.This will include funds to back-fill lost fee revenues for commu-nity colleges.ArnoldSchwarzenegger, on the otherhand, has no plan to balance thebudget, and therefore will returnto his practice of cutting Prop 98funds and increasing studentfees.

California once excelled atproviding unparalleled highereducational opportunity.Theinvestments we made in educa-tion made California an eco-nomic powerhouse and madethe California middle class theenvy of the nation. I will pay forrenewed investments in collegeopportunity line by line, dime bydime, within my responsible, bal-anced budget by closing wastefulloopholes for big corporations,which help a favored few at theexpense of the overall economy.

Perspective: There are twice asmany part-time community collegeinstructors as full-time instructors inCalifornia. Hiring policies in highereducation have been shifting for the

“I support salary equity to

ensure that the state of

California can continue to

attract and retain talented

and dedicated people. I

grew up in a generation

and in a family that told

young people the best

thing that they could do

was to serve their

community.”

past few decades toward contingentemployment, just as in so manyother areas in the economy. Com-munity college administrators seem towant to hire faculty without perma-nent status, without health benefits,without defined benefit retirementrights. What do you think is theimpact on quality education of sucha reliance on contingent faculty?

Angelides: While I am awareof the quality of teaching thatcommunity college part-timefaculty provide, I am also con-cerned that overly relying onthis workforce will be detrimen-tal to the educational experienceof our students. We need a full-time, committed faculty—whoare granted job security, a fairwage, full benefits and a secureretirement—as our core teachingforce and augmented with part-time faculty.Without suchrecognitions, I am afraid the col-lege’s teaching ranks will dwin-dle, and the commitment of thefaculty to the institutions theyteach at will be sacrificed.Agrowing reliance on contingentfaculty will also mean that stu-dents will be without instructorswho are given the full respectthey deserve, and this can onlydampen faculty participation andmeaningful input affecting theeducational health and learningenvironment of their college.

I applaud the community col-lege system for implementing a75 percent ratio for full-timefaculty, and I will continue tosupport this measure as Gover-nor. Furthermore, I will fight forpart-time pay parity and com-pensation for [the same] workperformed by their full-timecounterparts, including healthand retirement benefits, and will

remain unequivocal in my sup-port for a stable and fundeddefined benefit pension pro-gram.Additionally, I supportprofessional development, alongwith other categorical programs,such as matriculation, whichhave suffered cuts in recentyears.

Perspective: What is your posi-tion on the importance of paid officehours for part-timers? Pay for facul-ty committee work? Pro-rata pay?

Angelides: I believe contingentfaculty should be paid fully fortheir teaching duties—includingpaid office hours, committee andgovernance work—whateverduties their full-time facultycounterparts are paid for. Ibelieve the growing reliance onpart-time faculty is primarily aneconomic issue for the campus-es.And until we remove theeconomic incentive, the dimin-ishing ranks of full-time, tenuredfaculty will continue. I supportsalary equity to ensure that thestate of California can continueto attract and retain talented and

dedicated people. I grew up in ageneration and in a family thattold young people the best thingthat they could do was to servetheir community. My parentswere both public employees—my father was a State mechanicalengineer and my mother was apara-educator in the Sacramentoschool system.They instilled inme a sense of respect for com-munity service.

As Governor, I will investacross the board in educatingour children and will fight toensure that California has thebest and most affordable collegesand universities. Unlike Gover-nor Schwarzenegger, I will be agovernor who stands up for ourchildren and works to expand—not limit—educational opportu-nity and funding for students.For all young Californians whostudy hard, make the grades, andwant to go to college, Californiamust do its part by helping themachieve their dreams, because inthe achievement of their collegedreams lies California’s hope inthe decades ahead.

Phil Angelides marches for education funding during CFT convention in March, 2006. Angelides isflanked (from left) by CFT/CCC President Marty Hittelman, AFT national President Ed McElroy, and CFTPresident Mary Bergan

ANG

ELIDES

FOR

GO

VERNO

RC

AMPAIG

NPH

OTO

An interview with Phil Angelides

Respecting communityservice

FREDG

LASS

October 2006 PERSPECTIVE n 5

POLITICS

CFT ELECTION RECOMMENDATIONS

Prop 1D, the education bond measure, is part of the omnibus bondpackage placed on the ballot by the legislature and governor. It enjoyswide bi-partisan support. It would issue a $10.4 billion bond for schooland university construction.

Although voters approved Prop 39 in 2000, which lowered the super-majority necessary for passage of school bonds from 2/3 to 55%, andmany local school bond measures have passed since then, the state’sschool population is the largest in the nation and continues to grow. Thebacklog in construction needs matches the state’s size.

One welcome feature of Prop 1D is that fully half of the higher educa-tion portion of funding would go to community colleges, reflecting theirimportance in educating the greatest numbers of the state’s post-sec-ondary students.

Prop 1D not only addresses general K-12 and higher education needs.The measure earmarks a portion of its funding ($500 million) for careertechnical and vocational facilities, providing a crucial boost for the major-ity of students who will never receive a college degree. It will help makesure that our children’s classrooms are wired for the latest teaching andlearning technologies. Prop 1D will deal with school safety issues,including earthquake retrofitting, school security, playground safety, andasbestos removal.

Prop 1D invests in the state’s future. Vote YES on Prop 1D.

Prop 88, on the face of it, should be a no-brainer for educators. Its language says thatit would impose a $50 tax on each real property parcel in the state to pay for K-12 pro-grams, including school safety, textbooks, and extending class-size reduction beyond K-3. It would bring in several billion dollars for public education. Sounds great, you say.It seems egalitarian and supports education.

But Prop 88 hits poor people for the same chunk of money as the wealthy. This is notan equal levy. If you’re Bill Gates, $50 is pocket change. If you’re a Wal-Mart “associ-ate” and you have a mortgage to pay, $50 could mean having to choose betweenmedicines and shoes this month.

Another difficulty with Prop 88 is that it would raise false expectations. Rememberthe lottery? Ever since that ballot initiative passed, much of the public wonders why wecomplain about the public schools still being under funded. Yet, in reality, the lotterynever brings in more than 2% of the state’s public education budget, and in many yearsthe total is closer to 1%.

Prop 88 would impose a statewide property tax, the first since Prop 13. But it wouldraise fewer funds than the lottery does for schools. We need to reform Prop 13; but ifwe do, it should be a significant state budget reform that brings in substantial monies toschools and other necessary programs. Prop 88 would make it harder to enact real bud-get reform.

Prop 88 would award its facility grants to fewer than one in a hundred schools, target-ing schools without state bond monies and with standardized test scores in the top half.Its backers’ intent is to quietly favor charter schools.

The stated goal of Prop 88 is laudable; the mechanism is faulty. Vote NO on Prop 88.

NO ON 88

BALLOT PROPOSITIONS Proposition 1A YES Transportation Funding

Proposition 1B YES Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality and Port Security

Proposition 1C YES Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund

Proposition 1D YES Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities

Proposition 1E YES Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention

Proposition 83 NR Sex Offenders

Proposition 84 YES Water Quality Safety and Supply

Proposition 85 NO Protect Teen Safety

Proposition 86 YES Health Funding/Tax on Cigarettes

Proposition 87 YES Alternative Energy Research/Tax on California Oil

Proposition 88 NO Education Funding/Parcel Tax

Proposition 89 NO Political Campaigns/Public Financing

Proposition 90 NO Government Acquisition, Regulation of Private Property

STATE CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICESGovernor Phil Angelides (D)Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi (D)Attorney General Jerry Brown (D)Secretary of State Debra Bowen (D)Treasurer Bill Lockyer (D)Controller John Chiang (D)Insurance Commissioner Cruz Bustamante (D)

BOARD OF EQUALIZATIONDistrict 1 Betty Yee (D)District 2 No EndorsementDistrict 3 No EndorsementDistrict 4 Judy Chu (D)For all senate and assembly races, go to www.cft.org.

Tick…Tick…Tick…Tick… Like a large pendu-lum clock in a very small

room, that sound is getting loud-er and louder as the year-enddeadline to qualify the commu-nity college initiative approach-es. The petitions for volunteer(and paid) signature gatherersbecame available on Labor Dayand there must be 598,105 qual-ified petitions in the CaliforniaSecretary of State’s office at mid-night on January 22, 2007. Tomake this deadline we need tocollect a million signaturesbefore winter break.

To remind Perspective readersabout this proposed historic ini-tiative, it will stabilize communi-ty college funding, strengthengovernance, and assure lowerstudent fees.

The community college fund-

ing stability provision modifiesProposition 98 while protectingK-12 funding. Specifically, thechange allows overall Proposi-tion 98 funding to increasethrough enrollment growth ineither the K-12 or communitycollege segments, instead of justthe K-12 segment, as in currentlaw. This provision will protectthe current per student fundingrate of each system and willallow additional funding to fol-low enrollment growth in thesegment where it occurs. TheLegislative Analyst’s Office pro-jects that the increase in overallProposition 98 funding will bean additional $835,000,000 forcommunity colleges in the nextthree years if the initiative isapproved by the voters.

The proposed initiative willstrengthen governance by plac-ing the local Community Col-lege Districts and the California

Community College Board ofGovernors (CCCBOG) into theState Constitution as a segmentof higher education along withthe UC and CSU systems.Achieving this constitutional dis-tinction and definitive segrega-tion from the K-12 segment hasbeen the destination of a fiftyyear migration for communitycolleges. We are the largesthigher education system in theUnited States (and possibly theworld). Passage of the initiativewill enable the community col-leges to collaborate with the K-12, CSU, and UC segments on amore equal academic and politi-cal footing.

The third and most importantprovision to the initiative is thereason that CFT, FACCC, theL.A. College Faculty Guild, andmost community college facultywere drawn to the idea in thefirst place: affordable college

Initiative deadline approachesaccess for all of Califor-nia’s citizens. A com-munity collegeeducation, like a K-12education, is a both acivil right and apublic good. Thepoor should not betaxed out ofschool and Cali-fornia should notbe denied thebenefit of aneducated citi-zenry.

State Trea-surer andgubernato-rial candi-date PhilAngelides andSuperintendent of PublicEducation Jack O’Connell spokeabout student fees to students,faculty, and staff at SacramentoCity College earlier this month.At the end of their talk came the Initiative continued on page 7

YES ON ID

6 n PERSPECTIVE October 2006

LEGISLATION

As GovernorSchwarzeneggerapproved one of the best

community college budgets inrecent years, he decided, inopposition to California’s Edu-cation Code, not to provideequity for part-time faculty, andnot to support educationalexcellence by setting aside fundsto increase the ratio of full-timeto part-time faculty. Here, inpart, is his veto message on thepart time faculty categoricals:

I am reducing schedule (11)by $5,000,000 and schedule(13) by $4,000,000 to deletethe legislative augmentationsfor both the respective Part-time Faculty Health Insuranceand Part-time Faculty OfficeHours Programs.

But worse was to come:The part-time faculty programswere established to provideincentive grants to districts toincrease their investments inpart-time faculty benefits andwere not intended to requireadditional state contributions.Given the significant increasesin general purposes funding inthis budget, districts have morethan adequate resources to sup-port these programs at localdiscretion.This veto message ignores the

policy direction in the California

Education Code, policy put inplace over a number of years,most recently through AB 420(Statutes of 1999) and the Part

Time Faculty Bill of Rights,AB654 (Statutes of 2003).

Though Schwarzeneggersigned the budget in July, hehad yet to act on SB 361(Scott), the community collegefunding bill necessary, at least insome form, to make the budgetwork. The bill, introduced in2005, had remained stalled inthe Senate.We sought specificlanguage that would amend thebill to recognize that a facultycorps consisting primarily offull-time tenured faculty is

essential to excellent education:A percentage of new commu-nity college funding shall bedevoted to full-time facultyhiring.As long as less thanseventy-five (75) percent ofthe aggregate courses in thecommunity college system arebeing taught by full-time reg-ular contract faculty, an annu-al fixed amount of equal toten (10) percent of the totalannual increase in the com-munity college budget shallbe restricted to improve thatpercentage. Funds from thiscategory are to be distributedaccording to FTES and shallbe restricted to hiring of full-time regular contract courses.For those districts alreadymeeting the minimum per-centage, the funds are consid-ered to be unrestricted newfunding subject to local bud-geting and collective bargain-ing processes.

Districts which, as deter-mined from their base data,had a full-time faculty per-centage of 67 percent orgreater, but less than 75 per-cent shall apply up to 33 per-cent of their equalizationallocation as necessary toreach the 75 percent standardpursuant to (3) below.

Districts which, as deter-mined from their base data,

had a full-time faculty per-centage of less than 67 per-cent shall apply up to 40percent of their equalizationallocation as necessary toreach the 75 percent standardpursuant to (3) below.

Of the equalization fundsappropriated in the BudgetAct of 2006, districts shallincrease the number of full-time faculty, by the fall termof 2007, by the quotient ofthe applicable equalizationfunding divided by thestatewide average replacementcost, rounded down to thenearest whole dollar.

In August Schwarzeneggersent word through his Depart-ment of Finance that he wouldnot allow SB 361 to make dis-tricts accountable for movingtoward the 75% standard. So SB361 went to the governor with-out the language CFT hadrequested. Assemblyman JohnLaird, Chair of the AssemblyBudget Committee, has agreedto help us move this issue dur-ing the next session, and weplan to hold him to that pledge.

So as we begin circulatingpetitions to reduce student feesand provide funding stability forour colleges for the next elec-tion cycle (see article on page5) and gear up for this election,

we must reenergize local collec-tive bargaining and otherregional and statewide tactics tomake sure that districts spendmoney on faculty priorities.Term limits seem to havecaused institutional memoryloss not only for the governor,legislators and the Board ofGovernors, but also for localtrustees and college administra-tors.We will need to remindour administrators, our localtrustees, and our communitiesthat students need to haveaccess, outside of class, to all oftheir professors.

At the state level, we’ll needto remind the legislature andthe governor that colleges needa significant group of full-time,experienced professionals whoare able to mentor new facultyand expand and enhance thecollege curriculum.A part-timeequity fund that recognizes thelinkages between the three cat-egorical programs created over anumber of years (health care,office hours, pay equity) wouldhighlight the state priority,while allowing districts localdiscretion. It is essential thatthe state hold districts account-able for funds they havereceived to make progress onhigher education’s importantprofessional issues.

Working the FloorJudith Michaels, CFT Legislative Director

An uphill battle: the way it’s NOT spozed to be

PAP of the district’s need tostudy these competing demandsbefore reaching a decision.

Based on Bezemek’s advice,the union requested that theDistrict not provide PAP “withany aggregate information ongrading practices, actual gradesand/or any other information,such as section numbers, thatmight reveal the identity of fac-ulty members or allow thosemembers to be determined.”Theletter outlined various legalarguments that would support arefusal to provide the informa-tion.The union made clear itbelieves “providing the informa-tion to [PAP] violates the rightsof faculty, and violates the Cali-fornia Public Records Act.”

According to Bezemek,“Thereis a convincing argument that apublic college or university isnot required to disclose thisinformation under the PublicRecords Act.”

Impact on part-timersAnother worry in providing

the information to PAP is itspotential impact on part-timefaculty employment. Part-timepositions are contingent onattracting and retaining enoughstudents for a class to avoid can-cellation. In a legal brief pre-pared by Bezemek for LRCFThe wrote,“It does not requiremuch prescience to recognizethat if grade percentages are dis-closed, students might avoid“tough” graders with high stan-dards.Thus, one can easily imag-ine that part-timers, many of

whom have worked for manyyears [in the same district], willlose their jobs, or lose units.”

The district’s General Counselstudied the union’s demand andconferred with Bezemek.Thedistrict believed that to contestthe request in Superior Courtcould have exposed it, if it lost,to liability for attorney fees ofthe other side. And unfortunate-ly, UC Davis and other Califor-nia community college districtshad already agreed to give PAPthe information.

In the end, the Los Rios dis-trict provided the information,albeit with the requirement thatPAP provide a deposit towardthe cost of developing softwarethat could filter the informationand for the staff hours required toedit that information. It also set atimetable of six to eight weeks.

During that time, the district willfurther research the issue.

Next steps for the LRCFTIn its response to the union’s

letter requesting negotiationsbased on its belief that academicfreedom policies are negotiable,the district alleged that the topicwas not a mandatory subject ofnegotiation. Due to the currentcomposition of the PublicEmployment Relations Board theunion has decided not to pursuean unfair labor practice charge.The LRCFT has made it clear,however, that it disagrees with thedistrict’s analysis, and that thedecision not to pursue legalremedies “should in no way beinterpreted as acquiescence withyour [the district’s] position.”

The LRCFT intends to workwith CFT, FACCC, the

Statewide Academic Senate, andother faculty organizations toseek legislation to restrict therelease of such informationunder the Public Records Act.

Meanwhile, experience atother colleges and universitiesindicates that when student bodyorganizations refuse to “sub-scribe” to the service, PAP hasgone away. In LRCFT’s opin-ion, community college studentassociations, with their limitedfunds, are unlikely to be able toafford the service.

The LRCFT has for manyyears opposed the commodifica-tion of public higher education.It will continue to oppose effortsthat undermine the integrity ofour profession.

PAP continued from page 3

Term limits seem to have

caused institutional

memory loss not only for

the governor, legislators

and the Board of

Governors, but also for

local trustees and college

administrators.

Robert Perrone

GASB is not a federal agency.It has no ability to force itsrequirements on public employ-ers. GASB is an independent,private-sector organization thatprovides national, state, and localgovernments with fiscal advice.The Code of Professional Con-duct of the American Institute ofCertified Public Accountantsrequires that auditors follow thestandards adopted by GASB.

GASB 45 guidelines and timelinesPrior to GASB 45, public

employers were only required toreport the annual amount thatthey actually pay for benefits forcurrent retirees. Beginning in2007-08, GASB 45 calls on dis-tricts to publicly provide period-ic actuarial reports that discloseany long term retiree healthcareliabilities.

As districts begin to follow theGASB 45 reporting guidelinesthey will find that they havewhat seem to be horrific obliga-tions. For instance, the LosAngeles Community CollegeDistrict (LACCD) was quotedan Actuarial Accrued Liability of$632 million. Currently the dis-trict is spending about $26 mil-lion per year in retiree medicalcosts.

There is no requirement toactually fund the liability, only toreport it. District budgets willonly be affected by GASB 45 ifa district decides to fund retireebenefits in a new way, whichfully funds the liability.

The new accounting standardstake effect in 2007-08 for dis-tricts with total annual revenueof $100 million or more. Fordistricts with revenues from $10million to $100 million, theeffective date is 2008-09 and fordistricts with revenue less than$10 million the date is 2009-10.

Los Angeles Community CollegeExperience

The LACCD has had retireehealth benefits for more than 30years and has been operating ona “pay-as-you go” system all ofthis time without any majorproblem. If the LACCD hadadopted GASB recommenda-tions last year, it would haverequired a payment of almost$55 million in 2005, while pay asyou go only required about $26million.

Many pundits believe that thecurrent pay-as-you-go methodof paying retiree health benefitswill lead to major problems in

upcoming years as the mountingliability begins to come due.Thefact that this has not occurredyet in districts like the LACCDthat have had such a benefit formore than thirty years seems tohave had little effect on reducingthese fears.

Standards’ Effect on BenefitsThe threat of future unsustain-

able liabilities is playing a largepart in the effort to eliminatedefined benefit retiree health

plans in the private sector.Thehigh relative cost of pre-fundingretiree health benefits in the pri-vate sector (as opposed to pay-as-you-go) has clearly led manycompanies to abandon the wel-fare of their employees, as aresult of a GASB-like require-ment adopted by the private sec-tor-oriented Financial Accoun-ting Standards Board (FASB).

Public institutions are verydifferent from private compa-nies.They have a regular streamof guaranteed income and hugeassets in land and buildings. If apublic institution ceases to exist,the assets can be sold off to pay

for the ongoing health carerequirements in a way that maynot be available to a private sec-tor business.

Drivers of Increased Health Care Costs

In the discussion revolvingaround GASB 45, not muchemphasis has been placed on thereal underlying reasons for theincreased cost of health care.Although some industry-paidanalysts say that health care costsare rising due to aging, technol-ogy, increased utilization, andincreases in such diseases as dia-betes, recent studies show thereal major drivers of health carecost increases are on the supplyside of the systems (the providersof health care) through a combi-nation of excessive prices (andprofits), pervasive medical errorand quality deficiencies. Highprices and high administrativecosts are the critical causes of thesubstantial increases in healthcare spending that most districtshave experienced.The oftenhidden truth is that the UnitedStates has the highest per-capitahealth care cost in the world butprovides only a minimum of ser-vice and quality to those who

can afford to participate.At thesame time, health plans andinsurance carriers keep secret theprices they negotiate withproviders and are silent abouttheir own failure to monitor andcorrect for physician-drivenoveruse of inappropriate ser-vices, pervasive provider failureto follow professional treatmentstandards, inefficient resourceuse, and high medical error rates.

How to Cut Benefit Costs andIncrease Quality

The first step that districtsshould be taking, rather thanrushing into pre-funding oreliminating retiree health care, isto address the real reasons forincreasing costs.They shouldjoin Health Access California,the California Health CareCoalition, and the CaliforniaEducation Committee forHealth Care Reform in order toincrease the influence of theseorganizations. Until purchasersorganize to demand delivery sys-tem reform and performanceaccountability from health plansand providers alike, the problemswith our health delivery systemwill continue and the cost pres-sures on public sector employers,unions, and workers will grow.

October 2006 PERSPECTIVE n 7

NEWS

GASB 45 threatens health care coverage in

public schools and colleges

Many employees of California’s schools and colleges have beenwilling to accept lower salaries during their working lives inexchange for the benefit of health insurance coverage in

retirement.The gain from that trade-off is now in jeopardy. Most pub-lic schools and college districts are currently facing health care costincreases that are well above the rate of increase of the Consumer PriceIndex. Some districts are moving to eliminate or reduce health carecoverage to their current employees and to their retirees. One of themajor drivers of the movement to deny employees of their hard wonhealth benefits is the newly established Governmental AccountingStandards Board 45 (GASB 45) reporting standards.

The often hidden truth is that the United States has the

highest per-capita health care cost in the world but

provides only a minimum of service and quality to

those who can afford to participate.

(This is a much-shortened version of an article posted on the CFT website. For the longer article go to www.cft.org/councils/ccc/index.html.)

question and answer sessionwhere SCC student Joshua Har-ris said,“My question is, doesCalifornia care about its studentsand if so, when is it going tostart acting like it?”

How about in the next threemonths? Our California Federa-tion of Teachers, several AFTlocals, and many individuals havealready made significant financialcontributions toward the signa-ture gathering effort. If we haveto rely on paid signature gather-ers alone, the million signatureswill cost $1.50 each. As of thiswriting (mid-September) wehave collected nearly $900,000.

This money and more will beneeded for the ballot campaignonce the initiative is qualified.We should not have to rely onpaid signature gatherers to getthis initiative to the ballot. Joinin the volunteer effort to collectten, twenty, fifty or as many sig-natures as you can before theend of this semester. If there isno signature gathering campaignat your college, contact ChristineChavez, Community CollegeInitiative Coordinator, atchavezchristine@yahoo.com tofind out how to get one goingnow. Tick… Tick… Tick…Tick…

By Dennis Smith

Initiative continued from page 3

(From left to right) CCC President Marty Hittelman, FACCC PresidentDennis Smith, and Los Rios AFT President Dean Murakami havesigned the Community College initiative. Have you?

CARO

LYNIN

MO

N

8 n PERSPECTIVE October 2006

ComptonCompton and ElCamino begin a new era

For faculty at Compton Col-lege, the new arrangement withEl Camino College is both arelief and a source of anxiety andfrustration. On August 21, ElCamino signed a memorandumof understanding with Comp-ton’s state-appointed trustee, tak-ing over administration of thetroubled district under a tempo-rary contract for the next year.Compton is now called the“Compton Center of El CaminoCollege.”

The takeover means thatCompton students will continueto take fully accredited classes.Compton lost its accreditation asthe result of a long process (seethe May 2006 Perspective),which came to a head over thesummer. In signing the MOU,El Camino is essentially lendingits accreditation to Compton,along with taking over adminis-tration of the Compton campus.

Last spring the Peralta districtwas discussed as a possible candi-date for taking over administra-tion, but the much-closer ElCamino district was finally cho-sen.

Rodney Murray, President ofthe Compton College Federa-tion of Employees,AFT Local3486, says this arrangement “hasnever been done before – it’shistoric. The faculty are veryrelieved that they still have jobs,

but also still feel anxious, becausethe student count is down sofar.”

The California AccreditingCommission for Communityand Junior Colleges withdrewCompton Community College’saccreditation in 2005. Thataction had the immediate effectof sending students elsewhere.Typically in the recent past theschool boasted a student body ofseven thousand, but it fell to fivethousand after the ACCJC deci-sion. Murray estimates thatenrollment is now about half ofprevious levels.

Long linesWhile he appreciates the fact

that El Camino stepped in, thechangeover took place just daysbefore registration for the fallsemester. “The new administra-tors from El Camino forced allour continuing students toreregister,” he explains,“so therewere long lines. The bookstorewas closed and many classeswere cancelled if they had lowattendance. All of that discour-aged many students.”

The state chancellor promisedCompton faculty that therewould be no layoffs in the firstyear of the new regime, soteachers who suffered cancelledclasses didn’t have to fear thatthey would lose their jobs as aresult. But if enrollment doesn’tincrease substantially by next fall,jobs could be lost. “It takes timeto get students back,” Murraysays. “After the cuts fromProposition 13 in 1978 we lostclose to half our enrollment, and

it took us over 7 years to get itback.”

Compton administrators,however, did lose their jobs. Toreplace them, El Caminoassigned its own administratorsto take over some responsibilitiesthere. They also asked faculty atEl Camino to take on some ofthe added workload. That’scaused problems for the union atEl Camino. “The district is ask-ing some of our people to do alot of work, but trying to nego-tiate individual agreements withthem over their pay and condi-tions,” says Donald Brown, Presi-dent of the El Camino CollegeFederation of Teachers,AFTLocal 1388. “That’s illegal, andwe intend to file an unfair laborpractice complaint as a result ifthe district doesn’t stop.”

The El Camino administrationalso promised El Camino facultythat it would backfill, to ensurethat the new responsibilities inCompton didn’t erode theadministrative support neededon its own campus. “Ouradministrators are already over-worked,” Brown says,“and thisjust adds to the workload.”

Brown says the El Caminodistrict is trying to make theCompton curriculum dovetailwith that at El Camino. “If ElCamino is going to provide theCompton students with tran-scripts, then by law the coursestaught there have to be ones inthe El Camino course catalog,”he explains. Making the cur-riculum correspond is anotherreason for the cancellation ofsome Compton courses.

Although violations can stillbe grieved under the existingunion contract at Compton,which still has a year to run, it’snot clear against whom agrievance would be filed. Nor isit clear with whom the Comp-ton union will negotiate the

renewal of that contract. TheCompton district still exists as aseparate entity, but El Camino isadministering it. “It’s a greyarea,” Murray says. “There’s noquestion we’ll still get our stepincreases and COLA, as the con-tract mandates. But how will webe evaluated? How do will ourgrievance procedure work?”

Solving problems like theserequires cooperation betweenthe unions in the two districts.Murray says the Compton unionwill invite the executive board ofthe El Camino local to its cam-pus for lunch, to begin the dis-cussion. Brown also looksforward to scheduling a formalmeeting of the leadership of thetwo unions. “I supported thisarrangement in order to save thejobs of teachers in Compton,” hesays,“but we don’t want ElCamino perceived as coming into clean house there. We needto make a plan, especially abouthow to protect jobs. I will dowhatever I can to save as manyas possible.”

Santa ClaritaImpasse at College ofthe Canyons

“We told them we wanted todiscuss being able to grieveproblems in assignments for ourpart time faculty,” says MichaelWard, president of Part TimeFaculty United at College of theCanyons,AFT Local 6262.“They told us,‘that’s not goingto happen.’ So we declaredimpasse, and the PERB (PublicEmployment Relations Board)certified it.”

The arrogance of negotiatorsbrought in by the Santa Claritadistrict provided a key tacticaladvantage to the new union.District officials tried to lobbyPERB to forestall the impassecertification, but they lost theargument.

At issue is the first reopener ofthe first contract between theunion and the district, whichwas just ratified a year ago afteran arduous 3-year period ofwinning recognition and excru-ciating negotiations. “Essentially,we had to give in on a numberof issues just to get agreement,”Ward explains. “Our facultyhadn’t had a raise in over 3 years,and we needed a contract thatcould give them a pay increase.”

The contract’s reopener provi-sion allows each side to discussone issue, in addition to themandatory questions of wagesand benefits. The union chosethe issue of how teaching sched-ules are assigned.

The existing grievance proce-dure is already biased in favor ofmanagement,Ward notes, sincethe final step is an appeal to thecollege president. But assign-ments aren’t grievable at all. At

the beginning of each fallsemester, the normal pool of parttime instructors expands toabout 430. “Then the collegecancels classes right and left,” hesays,“which particularly affectsus. We have scores of problemswith assignments, but all we cando is go to the personnel depart-ment, which always sides withthe dean or department chairdecision.”

Deep AngerBehind the turmoil over

assignments is a deep anger overeconomic inequities in the dis-trict. “The administration alwayscomplains it’s short of money,but their costs take up half themoney from the state. Ourboard of trustees refers to thecollege president, Diane VanHook, as the CEO, and shereceives the highest salary of anycommunity college president inthe state: $260,000 [!!—ed.].There’s no board review of herexpense account, and they giveher a place in Santa Claritawhile she actually lives on thecoast in Orange County. Mean-while, they tell us that part timeteaching is just a hobby or avo-cation, and we all really do otherjobs.”

Of course, some part timeteachers actually do other jobs,mostly at other college campus-es. Ward himself is a freewayflyer, teaching at College of theCanyons,Ventura College, andthis semester carrying a full loadat California State UniversityNorthridge as well. “Most parttime teachers want full timepositions,” he emphasizes.

In negotiations, the College ofthe Canyons district revealed ithad received almost a 13%increase in state funding. Theunion asked for 10.5%, includingthe state COLA and some roomto move toward salary paritywith surrounding districts. Thedistrict came back with 3.5%.“They wanted to wear us down,and get people to complainabout not getting raises, so thatwe’d just cave.” Instead, theywalked into impasse.

The first mediation session isset for October 24, and theunion is making plans for mobi-lizing its members. It has alreadyorganized a letter-writing cam-paign directed to the board, andplans to deliver the letters as itsnext step. The local has a newcrisis committee, and is buildingup a core of volunteers beyondthe members of its executiveboard. “We’ll do demonstrationsand informational picketing,”Ward warns,“and organize thestudents and community aroundus. Getting the union was amajor uphill battle to beginwith, but we beat them beforeand we’ll do it again.”

By David Bacon

ActionLocal

Delegates from SanFrancisco to the nationalAFT convention, held July20-23 in Boston, acceptan award, borne by AFTLocal 2121 president EdMurray, left. To Murray'sright are long-time NewYork community collegeunion leader Lou Stollar,after whom the award isnamed, and Local 2121members CarmenRoman-Murray, WarrenMar, and Allan Fisher.The newly created LouisStollar Award forAdvancing the Rights ofContingent Faculty wasbestowed on Local 2121for its outstandingachievements on behalfof part-time faculty.

RUSS

CU

RTISPH

OTO