Increasing flexibility for community and technical colleges

(a) Notwithstanding any rules or procedures of the governing boards to the contrary, the community and technical colleges have the authority and the duty to: (1) Incorporate the most effective and efficient use of technology in accessing and delivering courses and programs in order to make the best use of available resources and to control costs; (2) Incorporate a model to offer occupational program curricula in smaller modules to accommodate specific student and employer needs and to gain sufficient flexibility in formatting courses; (3) Serve as a facilitator for education programs from outside delivery sources to meet the needs of the residents and employers of the district; and (4) Employ faculty in the most effective manner to serve the core mission of the community and technical college. (A) To that end, the freestanding community and technical colleges may employ faculty for an indefinite period without a grant of tenure and shall work toward a staffing goal of no more than twenty percent of the faculty holding tenure or being tenuretrack employees. Tenured faculty employed by the freestanding community and technical colleges before July 1, 1999, are not affected by this provision. (B) All community and technical colleges, other than those set forth in paragraph (A) of this subdivision, may employ faculty for an indefinite period without a grant of tenure. The immediate goal is to use this provision as a tool to assist the community and technical colleges in meeting the essential conditions provided for in section three of this article and in gaining independent accreditation status. The ultimate goal is to provide the flexibility community and technical colleges need to meet the needs of the state by working toward having no more than twenty percent of the core faculty holding tenure or being tenuretrack employees. Tenured faculty employed by community and technical colleges other than freestanding community and technical colleges on June 30, 2000, may not be affected by this provision. Tenure may not be denied to a faculty member solely as a result of change in employing institution necessitated by the change to independently accredited community and technical colleges. (b) The governing boards shall adopt a model of program approval for the community and technical colleges that permits occupational programs to be customized to meet needs without requiring approval by any governing board or other agency of government. The model shall incorporate a post-audit review of such programs on a three-year cycle to determine the effectiveness of the programs in meeting district needs. (c) The council shall promulgate rules to implement the provisions of this section and shall file these rules for review and approval with the chancellor no later than December 1, 2004.