AB-705 was passed in October 2017 and went into effect on the first of this year. It intends to address inequities in remediation and completion of English, Math, and ESL by allowing students to “bypass remedial prerequisite courses and enroll directly in transfer-level English and math courses.” It further prohibits colleges from requiring students to “take a prerequisite course unless they are highly unlikely to succeed in a higher-level course without it.” Under AB-705, California Community Colleges must maximize studentsÕ likelihood of completing required college-level coursework in English and math within one year. Obviously, this is a significant change.

So, what happened in English?

Since the passage of AB-705, there have been significant changes to PCC’s English composition program. For example, sections of basic skills courses, including transfer-level reading courses, were drastically curtailed, limiting student access. Moreover, English faculty had been reviewing and considering a number of alternative models to the old English 400 and/or 100 route to English 1A to meet the demands of the new law when the English Division Dean suddenly changed the agenda: the .5 unit lab co-requisite model became the sole model up for “discussion.”

In response, concerned faculty contacted the FA with questions about process and pay, and the FA immediately informed English faculty of their rights as faculty prior to their voting on any curricular changes (See the FA email to the faculty). According to the contract, faculty are effectively paid less to teach labs at a rate of 75% of the lecture rate. The lab model under consideration would have led to a pay cut.

The upshot was that a colegial process was not being followed. While faculty have the primary role of determining curriculum, as far as pay goes, the union has the right and responsibility to negotiate over changes that can affect pay.

Read the FA email and remember that because you have a union advocating on your behalf, you have a say about what happens in your classroom and to your paycheck.