This bill would establish a minimum standard of 175 days or 1,050 hours for full-time service and compensation for California community college counselors and librarians. It also clarifies the full-time service for adult education programs as well as part-time credit and non-credit and adult education community college instructors. This bill would also make numerous technical amendments to Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) law which this analysis does not address.

AB-1122 (Cannella, 1995) established appropriate minimum standards for full-time employment for various classifications of employees in grades kindergarten through grade 12 and community colleges. This bill was passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor (Chapter 390, Statutes of 1995).

Section 22138.5 of the Education Code establishes appropriate minimum standards for full-time employment for various classes of employees in kindergarten through grade 12 and community college, for the purpose of determining compensation earnable for final compensation and service credit. Under the provisions of this section, employers are required to establish a specific standard for full-time employment for any class of employees that is no less than the minimum standard applicable to that class.

Service credit and final compensation are two of the factors used to determine eligibility for, and the amount of, benefits payable under the State Teachers' Retirement System's (STRS) Defined Benefit Plan. For example, a STRS member must have five years of service credit to be eligible for a service retirement allowance. The amount of the service retirement allowance is then determined by taking the amount of service credit a member has, multiplying that by the appropriate age factor (2 percent at age 60 or older) and then multiplying that by the member's final compensation.

The minimum standard established under Section 22138.5 of the Education Code for instructors in the community colleges is not suitable for community college counselors or librarians. Additionally, the minimum standard established for all program administrators and administrators in community college districts is inappropriate for counselors and librarians employed in community college districts. Likewise, the minimum standard established for full-time community college instructors is inappropriate as a gauge against which to measure part-time credit instructors and non-credit and adult education instructors whose compensation does not include office hours.

This bill would establish a separate minimum standard for all community college counselors and librarians. The proposed minimum standard, for this group, of 175 days or 1,050 hours is appropriate and would be consistent with the minimum standard of 175 days for daily employment within the community colleges. It would also be consistent with the minimum standard for counselors employed in kindergarten through grade 12.

This bill would also clarify the minimum standard for part-time credit community college instructors. Currently, the minimum standard for this group is expressed in terms of teaching units which makes it difficult for districts to report. The proposed minimum standard of 525 hours for part-time credit community college instructors would represent in hours rather than teaching units the minimal instructional component of a full-time community college instructor's load.

This bill would also establish a separate minimum standard for non-credit and adult education community college instructors. The proposed minimum standard, for this group, of 875 hours is appropriate and would represent the minimal instructional component of a 25 hour per week, 35 week program.

Program - None.
Administrative - None.

Support - This bill would establish suitable minimum standards for community college counselors and librarians, part-time credit and non-credit and adult education instructors. We defer our position on the remaining provisions of the bill to PERS.

 
Assembly Bill 1166 posted: February 24, 1998