Colleges May Get Additional Full-Time Faculty

The head of Ventura County’s community college district has recommended that a windfall from Sacramento be used to hire 18 additional full-time teachers for the county’s three campuses.

Chancellor Philip Westin will urge board members to approve the idea at their Sept. 8 meeting, according to a statement released by the district Tuesday.

The funds stem from “Partnership for Excellence,” a $100-million effort to upgrade the state’s community colleges. In the current academic year, the Ventura County district is to draw nearly $2.3 million from the program, which was included in the state budget signed Friday by Gov. Pete Wilson. The addition of full-time faculty members echoes a theme sounded by teachers in the bitter, yearlong talks that yielded a new contract earlier this summer.

More than two-thirds of the 1,450-member teaching staff are part-timers and do not receive the salary, benefits and status of full-time staffers. Most have no office hours and are less accessible to students than their full-time counterparts.

“The full-time faculty have an immeasurable impact on how students feel about their college and on how well they perform academically,” Westin said.

Elton Hall, a Moorpark College philosophy teacher who served as the faculty’s chief contract negotiator, said Westin’s proposal is “a step in the right direction.”

He said most districts in California have ignored a state law requiring that 75% of community college faculty members work full time.

District leaders have not determined how the new positions would be divided among the county’s campuses. Details will be disclosed at a Friday news conference, a district spokeswoman said.

The teachers will receive about $63,000 each in salary and benefits. Westin also is proposing the addition of seven workers to the faculty’s support staff. Each will receive about $45,000 in salary and benefits. No use has been specified for the remaining $742,000 from Partnership for Excellence.