Member Testimony
Our students deserve educators who can give them their full attention. That can be hard for part-time faculty teaching at Oregon’s community colleges. This permanent underclass of educators want to have the time to meet students outside of class or develop new course materials, but they struggle to do so. Paying part-time faculty is an existing service that the state pays for. Today, we are simply asking for an additional $40 million to the Community College Support Fund with HB 2669 so that we can overcome the disparity between full-time and part-time faculty compensation.
When I think about these differences, I think about my part-time colleague Sam. We started teaching at Chemeketa about the same time. We had the same graduate degrees and we both worked hard to develop our history classes.
But our careers have taken a very different trajectory. As full-time faculty, I have been able to have a settled life. Sam, on the other hand, has struggled to earn enough to meet his basic needs. He has taught at multiple colleges and even worked for a time as a fish monger at New Seasons. He shared with me that the fish monger job paid more than Chemeketa did. He has an old car, which he frequently drives on empty because he doesn’t always have the money for gas. Even after 25 years of teaching, he experiences job insecurity, which diverts his focus from his students.
We request an additional $40 million for the Community College Support Fund in HB 2669 to continue to pay our part-time faculty, only now with pay parity. Please fund the Community College Support Fund at $920 million and $150 million additional funds for the Oregon Opportunity Grant. And please reject new Oregon tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-wealthy.
