Some California college instructors are earning more than the state's top education officials by teaching dozens of online classes at the same time, many of them built on pre-recorded lectures, the New York Post reports, citing a CalMatters investigation.
CalMatters found more than 70 instructors who taught at five or more California community college districts, Cal State or UC campuses in 2024, mostly in online courses students finish on their own schedule. There is no rule limiting how many districts one instructor can work for, and no system that tracks an instructor's total load. Each of the state's 73 community college districts is run separately, so no college can see the whole picture.
One instructor was listed as teaching at least 69 course sections across nine districts in 2024.
The top earner CalMatters identified holds full-time jobs at two community colleges and teaches part-time at seven others and at Cal State Sacramento. She is teaching about 30 classes with more than 1,100 students this fall and made nearly $800,000 in 2024, more than any community college administrator in the state, including the system's chancellor. She did not respond to the Post.
An astronomy instructor who teaches about 50 online classes and labs from an office above his garage in Michigan said he earned $758,485 in 2024, about $320,000 of it from California schools. He said his students get an excellent education and that at some rural colleges he is the only astronomy instructor available. "Now, did I push it further than some people think is morally conscionable? I don't think so," he told CalMatters.
Full-time professors are doing it too. One ethnic studies professor in San Jose teaches 14 extra courses at four other districts, with about 930 students this semester, according to the report.
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