The Pensacola State College Faculty Association and the college’s administration are back at the bargaining table, still trying to negotiate terms of the faculty’s 2013-14 collective bargaining agreement.

The two sides will meet again today in hopes of reaching an agreement.

PSC President Ed Meadows said he’ll know after the meeting if the college is making the progress it needs to make.

“I’m hopeful this Friday we’ll see a positive turn,” he said.

Paige Anderson, PSCFA president, echoes that sentiment, saying she’s hopeful there’ll be some movement.

At the Sept. 5 meeting, the first time the sides met since the faculty voted to reject the proposed contract in June, the administration was willing to revisit workloads and human resource issues.

The faculty association is willing to revisit concerns about leave time and salaries.

Among other things, the administration has proposed an increase in overload pay and promoting after four years with a 4 percent raise, instead of the five years, 5 percent proposed last year.

The administration still is offering a 2 percent raise to the faculty, although it won’t be retroactive to August 2013 as the last proposal allowed. Faculty rejected that version. The raise would take effect after the faculty ratifies the contract and the PSC Board of Trustees approves it.

One point of contention is still about workload points, which determine an instructor’s course load.

The weekly 35-hour standard workload is based on a 900 point scale for the fall and spring semesters. There are several different point values, but Collegiate High faculty, for example, currently receive 50 points per contact hour, which, when divided into 900, equates to an 18-contact hour per week workload.

The administration has proposed to reduce their point value to 40 per contract hour, effective fall 2015, creating a 22.5-hour workload.

An overload is when an instructor exceeds the standard load of 900 points by teaching extra classes. The pay is per contact hour, so teaching an extra 3-credit course would result in 3 overload hours per week. Overloads are not guaranteed.

The problem, some faculty members say, is that they’d have to teach a third course during one of the school’s four sessions to reach the average, putting them in the classroom 30 hours per week.

Collegiate High instructors are also required to have office hours for students and other professional activities, which currently is a combined 15 hours per week.

Meadows said public high school teachers have “anywhere from 25-30” contact hours per week, sometimes even more.

“The administration feels that this is more than fair for our Collegiate High faculty,” he said.

Meadows said the discussions now center on last year’s contract and that “we’re not working on anything new.”

The PSCFA, however, has a different impression.

“We just worked under the assumption of we’re doing 2013-14, but the administration is presenting things that don’t go into effect until this year and even next year, 2015-16, so it feels as if they’re trying to do three years,” Anderson said.

“If they want to do a package deal, we’d be open to that.”

The college has had an 8 percent decrease in enrollment from 2012-13 to 2013-14 and a decrease in state funding in recent years. Since 2009, state funding for higher education in Florida has decreased nearly 4.5 percent, according to Illinois State University’s Grapevine report.

“The financial picture’s not as bright as it was,” Meadows said. “I hope the Faculty Association realizes we’re not in the same place we were (when the 2013-14 contract negotiations began).”

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