Today's Adjunct News in Colorado

April 15, 2014 by Nick DeSantis - From the Chronicle of Higher Education

Colo. Bill to Improve Adjuncts’ Working Conditions Is Defeated

A bill in Colorado that sought to improve the pay and job security of adjunct instructors at the state’s community colleges has been shelved indefinitely after the measure was defeated by the Colorado House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee. The committee voted last week, 9 to 4, against the measure, known as the Community College Pay and Benefits Act of 2014. The committee then voted to postpone the bill indefinitely.

Members of the committee raised concerns about the measure’s costs and said that the matter would be best handled by the community-college system itself, rather than through the legislature.

• Source: Gjsentinel

In an attempt to rescue the bill because of a $55 million fiscal cost (an earlier version of the bill carried an $86 million fiscal note), Fischer tried to amend it to force the college system to dip into its reserves to increase pay and offer benefits for all adjunct instructors.

That effort failed.

While Fischer earned sympathy from Democratic and Republican members of the committee, most agreed that it was too expensive a proposition, and that it was the wrong way to address the issue.

Today's Blog is an update on the news posted in the Chronicle; yet another blow to adjunct life.   I hope you will comment and add other stories from your own area, college, or state.