September 2, 2026
Dear faculty:
We have heard from some faculty members today asking for clarification on why “Part-time pay parity” was addressed in this contract negotiation cycle only for instructional part-time faculty. The short answer is that part-time non-instructional faculty, such as counselors and librarians, were already at or above 85% pay parity in our 2022-2025 CBA, while part-time instructionalfaculty were below 85% pay parity.
This is addressed in Article 8.15 of our “current” (2022-2025) contract, which states:
“Non-instructional adjunct compensation is above parity on all non-instructional salary schedules, where the average annualized non-instructional salary for each position is calculated by multiplying each salary step by the full-time contractual hours for the position by 35 weeks, and taking the average. The parties agree that parity has been currently reached for noninstructional adjuncts under this definition as of the date of this Agreement.”
In our contract, 85% parity is the agreed-upon parity goal for part-time faculty. Part-time instructional, under our new tentative agreement, will finally be paid at 85% parity in academic year 2027-28; part-time instructional are currently earning between 75-83% of what full-timers earn, depending on where they fall on the salary schedule. Part-time non-instructional faculty will continue to be paid at or above 85% parity under the terms of the new tentative agreement.
In the long-term, we are continuing to strive for more equitable treatment across all types and classifications of faculty, which can be improved in a number of different ways, including by reducing the number of salary schedules we currently have in our contract, moving faculty classifications to pay-by-load, etc. Of course, we need the District to agree to these changes, but if you are interested in working on this issue, please let me know and let’s work together to keep improving on this in our next contract!
In Solidarity,
Chet Lexvold
Executive Director
San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT 1493
lexvold@aft1493.org
(650) 395-8347