<p>the prevalence of relying on adjunct faculty is a dirty little ‘secret’ in academia, particularly in cc’s. </p>
<p>i’m with eggmom: the problem with school districts isn’t lack of money – it’s lack of money for classrooms & teachers. why? because so much of it goes to inefficient bureaucracy and overpaid administrators & “advisors.” and i don’t mean school secretaries and the like.</p>
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<p>My sister is a cc adjunct and she lives only slightly above the poverty line. </p>
<p>(Another dirty little secret at ccs is how many of the classes are now online. LOTS.)</p>
<p>missy, I’m glad people are watching Texas. I fear that Perry will run for president and people will be swayed by his good hair and pretty smile. I don’t want him to do to the country what he was done to Texas education. Pay attention, people! </p>
<p>Off to my meeting.</p>
<p>Post #21 and #22</p>
<p>Are you sure that CC’s over use adjuncts? Are you sure? Are you sure CC’s have the dirty little secret of teaching many classes online? </p>
<p>You might be right. Not all CC’s have 50,000 students and an endowment of $20 million like the one I work at. Not all CC’s have an administration that carefully planned for the impending budget cuts. </p>
<p>We haven’t had a single layoff and won’t. </p>
<p>The majority of our classes are still taught by FT tenured professors. Those professors have ample time for students because they are teachers and are not pressured to research and publish. </p>
<p>Enrollment is clearly shifting to online classes. That is true but that is being driven by students signing up for classes NOT by administrators trying to save a buck. </p>
<p>CC’s are not over loaded with high paid admins either. At least not the 3 I have worked at over my career. </p>
<p>I know it is fun to assume that CC’s do everything wrong but it isn’t always true.</p>
<p>Hi, ACCecil,</p>
<p>Are you in Texas? Austin CC–which is a fabulous community college–doesn’t have a $20M endowment. Nor does Alvin Community College. Can’t think of another “ACC” but you’ll let us know.</p>
<p>Anyway, the point is simply that community colleges are hurting in the Texas budget crisis in the same way our K-12 and 4-year universities are impacted.</p>
<p>See, e.g., [Community</a> Colleges Uneasy as Ax Hangs Over Benefits — Higher Education | The Texas Tribune](<a href=“http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/higher-education/community-colleges-uneasy-ax-hangs-over-benefits/]Community”>Community Colleges Uneasy as Ax Hangs Over Benefits | The Texas Tribune)</p>
<p>Where I live in a district in the greater Austin area, the school board is talking about substantial cuts in the number of teachers, but no mention has been made of school closings yet.</p>
<p>Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once famously said: “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” However, I am afraid that many of my fellow Texans have a phobia for taxes that overwhelms their appreciation for civilization, and so I worry about the school funding situation here.</p>
<p>I’m not assuming ccs do everything wrong at all. I have a highly favorable impression of them. But I pay a lot of attention to a few of them. And those to which I pay attention use a LOT of adjuncts. Plus the school at which my sister teaches uses a LOT of adjuncts. My SIL teaches at a large cc and she is the only full time faculty member in the Business Dept - everyone else is adjunct. I have a google alert for one large cc system and it gives me the job postings. In the two years since I’ve had my google alert, the only faculty postings I’ve seen have been for adjunct. I know a lady at church who works for that cc system…she is highly educated and qualified and barely makes ends meet teaching at two different ccs. This is my son’s second semester at a cc and he has had exactly one FT teacher…the rest adjuncts.</p>
<p>But the cc system with which I am most familiar doesn’t plan to lay off any teachers; they plan to cut costs through non-faculty.</p>
<p>Missypie – was Texas one of the states that settled lawsuits related to equalization of school funding? Pretty commonly states that did that have to restrict the ability of local districts to raise funding otherwise the state gets back in the position of unequal funding between wealthy and poor districts. (Not defending it – just suggesting that, at least in some states, there is a lawsuit settlement behind laws like these.)</p>
<p>The CC my MIL was a professor at in California replaced her with five part-time faculty members (one for each class she taught) when she retired. They still haven’t hired a FT faculty member to replace her and she’s been retired more than 20 years, and the geography classes are full. They don’t have to pay the part-timers benefits, and these poor folks traipse from college to college teaching at three or four places a semester. And the students have barely any access to the part-time faculty outside of class hours because they’re always headed somewhere else.</p>
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<p>No, I am not in Texas. But I used to work at a Texas CC and we didn’t teach many of our classes with adjuncts. Most of the classes were taught by FT tenured or tenure track teachers and if the students made an effort they learned. </p>
<p>All states are facing budget crises so this isn’t just a TX issue. CC’s manage to do an amazing job with one tenth the funding of 4-year schools. If you didn’t know that you are the one who is ignorant not me. </p>
<p>I interact with CC faculty from other schools across my state and other states and yes there are budget cuts and concerns but the notion that CC’s teach most of their classes online to save money or that CC’s rely on adjuncts any more than 4-year schools do is BS. </p>
<p>Hope that helps ya out some. </p>
<p>It sounds like Missypie only knows CC adjuncts. Well, there are plenty of CC FT teachers out there. I haven’t scanned the job market for FT CC teaching positions lately, I am sure there have been soem hiring freezes, etc. </p>
<p>That is expected in this environment. </p>
<p>But for the parents and future students out there unfamiliar with CC’s don’t buy into all the ignorant and generalized BS about CC’s you read on this site. Visit your local CC and talk to students and teachers and admins and see what’s up.</p>
<p>I don’t remember if it was in settlement of lawsuits, but we’ve had “Robin Hood” for quite a few years. The “wealthy” school districts have to write multi-million dollar checks to the poor districts.</p>
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<p>LOL, my D is going to attend a less-selective U in a city with a couple of very selective Us. They told us that some of her classes would be taught by the same (adjunct) profs that teach at the highly selective schools.</p>
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<p>My son had an adjunct for Stats at his expensive private U. It was bad because the guy’s “office hours” were 30 minutes before class. So if you had a question, you couldn’t get it answered until right before the next class.</p>
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<p>I don’t think either katliamom or any of the rest of us were implying that the “dirtly little secret” is that the adjuncts are less qualified than FT tenured teachers. IMO, the dirty little secret is that so many highly qualified teachers are working for peanuts with no benefits.</p>
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<p>I don’t know if you read that my son is at a cc. The bill for last spring semester at his former private: $20,000. The bll at cc for last fall: $450.</p>
<p>We brought up ccs because they are facing budget cuts at a time when enrollment is skyrocketing.</p>
<p>I have to wonder about Texas and its educational priorities. The Packers were able to use a HIGH SCHOOL indoor practice field when the Dallas area weather was lousy this month. In Wisconsin we’re facing our own budget crisis- the @#$%^& new governor is trying to pull some fast ones.</p>
<p>Missypie…I’m somewhat confused by your posts; are you a proponent or opponent of Robin Hood? </p>
<p>As a Texas resident and educator, I can tell you that yes, our school districts are in trouble. There is indeed wasteful spending; however, those making the cuts are making some pretty rash decisions, IMO. I’m fearful about the effect their impulsive decisions will have. On the other hand, something MUST be done, or our state will be in the same predicament that California is facing. Both California and Texas are in these situations in part because of their stance (rather lack therof) on their immigration issues. You can’t simply put a band-aid on a severed artery and expect it to heal.</p>
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<p>That school’s booster club paid for a big chunk of the cost. </p>
<p>The thing is, taxpayers can approve bond issues and that money has to be used on facilities…hence, the indoor fields, etc. If we could approve bonds to pay teachers, a whole lot of communities would do it.</p>
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<p>Opponent…because we have to send money away. Districts that get our money are able to pay their teachers more. (I’m sure I’d feel differently if we received money, however.)</p>
<p>I assure you that not all Texas high schools have indoor practice facilities! Our district is 70% minority and about 50% low income (reduced/free lunch), but we have been ranked number one in terms of efficiency and achievement as compared to the other districts with our demographics. Our facilities are older (haven’t built a high school since 1969). We only get new uniforms every 10 years, etc. But, my kids have gotten (and are getting) a great education. My D had no problem getting accepted to top universities (top 50) without all the bells and whistles (and limited APs) of the “prestigious” districts. And now that all the other districts are facing financial crises, I am so glad that we stuck with our homely little district!</p>
<p>Missy,</p>
<p>No, I didn’t miss that your darling son is at a CC. I read that and I am happy for the both of you. The real dirty little secret here is that CC’s kick ass compared to 4-year schools for the first two years. It ain’t even close in most cases. </p>
<p>CC’s have budget challenges as well, they are state funded, so this is an excellent and interesting thread. My job is to dispell all the Bogey Man talk about CC’s here on CollConfidential. The truth is, for many kids straight out of high school or returning to school, CC’s are a God send. </p>
<p>Save money, get credits that TF, get to the same school you wanted to finish at anyway. There is a lot of scary talk about CC’s here and I want to debunk it because for many folks CC’s are a great place to start or continue an education.</p>
<p>ACCecil, I hope you are venting only to us. I’m sure you present a more positive persona to your students. I totally agree that CCs can be a godsend. </p>
<p>Some of the posts on College Confidential can seem elitist, but if your child does want to get into an Ivy, why not have a forum for your questions? </p>
<p>I just don’t recall reading posts *by parents *bashing community colleges…they aren’t the first choice of many on this board, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t respected. (I can’t speak for the posts of some of the high students; I tend to ignore most of them because some of the kids do think very highly of themselves and look down on other folks.)</p>
<p>Accesil, I wasn’t criticising CCs. I was saying that at many of these schools adjuncts are replacing retiring tenured faculty as a way of saving money. Same with many state schools. The 'dirty" secret is not that this exists – but that these instructors are virtually exploited. They earn a pittance, have no rights or control over their work conditions, and usually get no benefits.</p>