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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Stewart		DATE TYPED:	3/21/03		HB	HJM 104/aSEC
SHORT TITLE:		Higher Education Full-time Faculty Study				SB
					ANALYST:		L. Baca

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04	FY03	FY04
	NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to SJM 36, Use of Non-tenure Track Faculty in NM

Relates to Appropriation for the Commission on Higher Education in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Commission on Higher Education (CHE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SEC Amendment

The amendment adopted by the Senate Education Committee requires that the findings and recommendations resulting from implementation of the guidelines and monitoring be provided to the Legislature annually, instead of by November 1, 2003.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Joint Memorial 104 requests that the Commission on Higher Education (CHE) study staffing patterns for full-and part-time faculty and classified staff at New Mexico’s institutions of higher education and make recommendations for ratios of full-to part-time faculty and classified staff to improve the delivery of quality higher education learning and services.

Significant Issues

There has been a trend to hiring increased numbers of part-time faculty and classified staff in New Mexico and nationally. However, there is a dearth of information concerning the impact of this practice on the delivery of higher education services. Moreover, there appears to be an absence of guidelines to determine whether to hire full- or part-time faculty and staff instead of fulltime personnel. The quality of education in a college or university requires the use of full-time, permanent tenured faculty and that courses be taught by highly qualified people, whether they are full-time or part-time employees. What ratios of –full- to part-time faculty provide the best opportunities for students are unknown. Thus, the CHE is asked to study the issues and report to the Legislative Education Study Committee.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

HJM 104 does not carry an appropriation, but the CHE is asked to conduct the study and develop

recommendations utilizing existing staff and resources.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Quoted below, as cited in the CHE analysis for SJM 36, are the conclusions of “House Joint Memorial 73, 2001 Regular Session, which requested that the CHE study staffing patterns for full- and part-time faculty and classified staff at New Mexico institutions of higher education and make recommendations for ratios of full-time to part-time faculty and classified staff. The quality of education and services delivered to clients of the higher education institutions was the concern of the memorial.

“The CHE published Report of Full-time/Part-time Faculty and Staff Ratios 2002. The study came to the following conclusions:

1) Outside of public research universities, the data from New Mexico institutions for the use of part-time faculty does not appear to be far out-of-line with the data gathered nationally for similar institutions. Relative to the New Mexico public research institutions, the four-year trend through 2001 shows a 4.3% decline in the use of part-time faculty.

2) For part-time staff employees, the New Mexico institutions are below or in line with the national data, except for public medical schools.

3) There is little in the literature to suggest that the utilization of part-time faculty is a detriment to quality, and the advantages and disadvantages of using part-time faculty and staff is about evenly weighted.

4) In a time of some economic uncertainty, where institutions may be required to display some flexibility, and since there are no strong negative indicators in the use of part-time faculty and staff, the conclusion drawn is that no recommendations should be provided to the institutions relative to the use of part-time employees.”

LRB/njw