Declining enrollment and financial setbacks faced by California community colleges have necessitated discontinuing programs and terminating the services of experienced, tenured, certified personnel. Laws and policies in California, Connecticut, and at Miami-Dade (Florida) related to reduction in force (RIF) are discussed in terms of termination and rehiring of faculty, and of the traditional RIF alternative policies, which rely on dismissal of part-time staff. Retraining faculty for lateral transfer is presented as an alternative to layoffs among tenured college faculty members, whereby a classified or certified employee transfers from the department of original employment to another for which another credential is required. The faculty retraining experiences of the State University System of Florida, the State University of New York, the State University College of Pennsylvania, and the University of Wisconsin System are described and related to an outline for staff development and lateral transfer policies for certified positions at Palomar College, California. A review of California's enabling legislation and of professional growth policies precedes a summary of the views of Charles Neff, in favor of faculty retraining, of the opposing views of John J. Wagner, and of the disparate feelings in evidence in the Los Angeles Community College District. A bibliography is appended. (MB)