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The Wisconsin Technical College System should start
treating its part-time faculty like the professionals they are and pay
them professional salaries and benefits, advocates told a legislative
committee in January.
“Pay equity is essential schoolwide to retain
qualified and experienced part-time teachers,” said Joan Grosse,
an English as a Second Language instructor at the Madison Area Technical
College.
Grosse was joined by a chorus of people urging support
for Senate Bill 314, which would require that salaries and fringe benefits
of part-time technical college instructors be prorated based on the
salary and fringe benefits of full-time instructors.
The bill was introduced by Senators Gary George, Fred
Risser, Dave Hansen, Brian Burke and Robert Wirch. The hearing was held
by the Senate Education Committee.
Jeannie Lehmann, a communications skills and adult basic education instructor at Waukesha County Tech-nical College, said she is atypical because she has taught at WCTC for 10 years.
“The majority of part-time instructors leave
WCTC before their three-year provisional certification expires,”
she said in prepared remarks.
Lehmann said that, like all part-time instructors,
she receives pay for student contact hours only. She is not paid for
the time she spends meeting with students outside of class time to assist
them with their coursework.
“When I spend time preparing for a class, I am
never paid. When I spend time evaluating student work, I am never paid,”
she said. “Like all part-time teachers, I have never received and
am not eligible for sick pay or funeral leave.”
In addition, she said that as a part-time instructor
she is not invited to attend inservice programs that provide professional
development opportunities, she has no job security, and she has no avenue
to full-time employment at WCTC.
“Is it any wonder that I have watched many gifted
teaching colleagues leave WCTC for employment that recognizes, respects,
and rewards their dedicated service?” she asked.
She asked legislators to support SB 314 so that “hard-working
professionals will receive appropriate compensation so that they can
stay in teaching and continue to make a difference in the lives of their
students.”
Representatives of the MATC Part-Time Teachers’
Union submitted a fact sheet pointing out that:
Posted February 12, 2002