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SB5397 • 2026

CTC faculty w/o tenure limit

Establishing limits on the percentage of courses taught by faculty without tenure track status at community and technical colleges.

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Senator Ramos, Senator Slatter, Senator Cortes, Senator Cleveland, Senator Hasegawa, Senator Krishnadasan, Senator Nobles, Senator Stanford
Last action
2026-01-12
Official status
S Higher Ed & Wo
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

CTC faculty w/o tenure limit

CTC faculty w/o tenure limit

What This Bill Does

  • CTC faculty w/o tenure limit

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-01-12 Senate

    By resolution, reintroduced and retained in present status.

Official Summary Text

CTC faculty w/o tenure limit

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
AN ACT Relating to establishing limits on the percentage of 1
courses taught by faculty without tenure track status at community 2
and technical colleges; and adding a new section to chapter 28B.50 3
RCW. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 28B.50 6
RCW to read as follows: 7
(1) No later than July 1, 2026, the community and technical 8
colleges shall each adopt a policy concerning the percentage of 9
courses that may be taught at each respective college by faculty 10
without tenure track status. At minimum, the policy must require that 11
no more than 45 percent of courses offered annually may be taught by 12
faculty without tenure track status on and after July 1, 2030.13
(2) By July 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, and in compliance 14
with RCW 43.01.036, the college board shall submit a report to the 15
appropriate committees of the legislature that details the steps 16
community and technical colleges have taken to meet the requirement 17
established under subsection (1) of this section. The report must 18
include the most recent calculated percentage of courses taught by 19
faculty without tenure track status at each institution as well as 20
any relevant data. 21
S-0482.2
SENATE BILL 5397
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators Ramos, Slatter, Cortes, Cleveland, Hasegawa,
Krishnadasan, Nobles, and Stanford
Read first time 01/21/25. Referred to Committee on Higher Education
& Workforce Development.
p. 1 SB 5397
(3) As used in this section, "tenure track status" means a 1
probationary faculty employee having an opportunity to be reviewed 2
for tenure or a faculty employee who has been awarded tenure.3
--- END ---
p. 2 SB 5397