Community colleges: part-time faculty: benefits.

Assembly Member Patel's proposal to extend full-time faculty benefits to part-time community college instructors teaching across multiple districts marks a shift in how California's education system treats adjunct faculty workloads. The legislation would require community colleges to provide full benefits packages to part-time faculty members whose combined teaching assignments at two or more districts equal or exceed a full-time teaching load.

Under current law, faculty teaching up to 67% of full-time hours at a single district are classified as temporary employees without full benefits. The proposed change would assess faculty workload cumulatively across districts rather than treating each part-time appointment separately. This means instructors piecing together a full course load through positions at multiple colleges would receive the same health insurance, retirement contributions, and other benefits as their full-time colleagues.

The measure introduces new administrative requirements for California's community college system. Districts would need to develop systems for tracking and verifying teaching assignments across institutions to determine benefit eligibility. While the legislation does not include specific funding provisions, districts would bear responsibility for covering additional benefit costs within existing budgets.