HOUSE BILL 591

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Miguel P. Garcia

AN ACT

RELATING TO HIGHER EDUCATION; REQUIRING A SALARY STANDARD FOR ADJUNCT AND OTHER NONTENURE-TRACK FACULTY; PROVIDING FOR THE RESTORATION OF FULL-TIME TENURED OR TENURE-TRACK FACULTY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. FACULTY STANDARDS--REQUIREMENTS FOR PERCENTAGE OF TENURED OR TENURE-TRACK FACULTY--SALARIES--HEALTH CARE.--

          A. Each public post-secondary educational institution shall determine the number of undergraduate courses taught by adjunct faculty, other contingent faculty, tenure-track faculty and tenured faculty in each academic department. Those academic departments with at least eight full-time- equivalent positions that do not have seventy-five percent of the courses taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty shall, beginning with the 2007 academic year, and in each succeeding year, increase the share of courses taught by full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty. By the beginning of the 2013 academic year seventy-five percent of courses taught in each academic department at each public post-secondary educational institution shall be taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty. In no academic year between the 2007 academic year and the 2013 academic year shall any department have less than a one-tenth reduction in the gap between the percentage of undergraduate courses taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty and the required seventy-five percent.

          B. Each public post-secondary educational institution shall create a plan to meet the requirements specified in Subsection A of this section. In its plan, the institution shall state how it intends to meet the state requirement of seventy-five percent tenured or tenure-track faculty by 2013; provided that the plan shall not rely on eliminating current adjunct or other nontenure-track faculty positions, but by creating new opportunities for adjunct and other nontenure-track faculty to attain full-time, tenure-track positions and by filling vacancies in tenure or tenure-track positions.

          C. Each public post-secondary educational institution shall establish a process by which adjunct and other nontenure-track faculty, after successful completion of a reasonable probationary period and consistent with institutional and state policies, receive timely notice of and priority consideration for adjunct or nontenure-track teaching assignments in future academic terms. Each institution shall create a process for ensuring that qualified nontenure-track faculty receive preferential consideration for tenure-track positions when they become available, consistent with institutional and state personnel policies. The process shall ensure that adjunct and other nontenure-track faculty:

                (1) accumulate seniority;

                (2) are notified of job openings prior to the job being posted outside the institution; and

                (3) have preferential consideration for appointments.

          D. By the 2007 academic year, each public post-secondary educational institution shall determine a pro-rata salary plan for adjunct and other nontenure-track faculty employed in each academic department based on salaries of tenured and tenure-track faculty of comparable qualifications doing comparable work. The pro-rata salary plan shall be developed during collective bargaining with the exclusive representatives of the adjunct and other nontenure-track faculty or, in the absence of collective bargaining, by a committee representing all elements of the faculty of the institution and the administration. The pro-rata plan shall provide for progressive salary increases for adjunct and other nontenure-track faculty so that by the 2013 academic school year the salaries of those faculty are at least eighty percent of comparable tenured and tenure-track faculty.

          E. If an adjunct or other nontenure-track faculty member at a public post-secondary educational institution carries at least fifty percent of the established teaching load of tenured and tenure-track faculty, the adjunct or other nontenure-track faculty member shall be eligible for the same health care benefits as tenured and tenure-track faculty.

          F. The provisions of this section shall be subject to collective bargaining with the exclusive representatives of the adjunct and other nontenure-track faculty.

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