Adrian Castillo is not accustomed to job security. He’s a part-time professor who simultaneously teaches media arts courses at three different Los Angeles-area community colleges, while also working as a high school substitute teacher to make ends meet. Castillo often doesn’t know which colleges will offer him classes to teach next, or whether those classes will be online or in person.
“It is stressful just trying to balance everything,” said Castillo, who has taught at the community college level for 10 years.
Castillo’s experience — an ever-fluctuating schedule and lower pay compared to his full-time colleagues — is common across the California community college system, where 68% of faculty , about 35,000 of them, are classified as part-time.
Existing law caps part-time faculty at teaching 67% of a full-time load, which typically equates to three courses, at any single California community college campus during a semester.
On Sept. 22, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 2277 , which would have raised the cap for part-time faculty to 85% of a full-time load, or about four courses, at a single community college. The state Legislature approved the bill earlier this month. In his veto message, Newsom wrote that “this bill continues to create unknown, but potentially significant costs or cost pressures in the millions to tens of millions of dollars.”