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| State & Local Education News |
College and university presidents top state salaries database
Richmond Times-Dispatch
December 4, 2016
Salary isn’t everything, especially for presidents of Virginia colleges and universities whose compensation largely comes from sources other than state taxes or student tuition.
Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael P. Rao moved into the top spot in the annual salary database for state employees published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, based on sources of other compensation that colleges and universities had not reported to the state in past salary surveys.
The leaders of five other Virginia higher education institutions — Christopher Newport University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Mason University and Virginia Military Institute — also were among the top 10 earners on the list.
Virginia Board of Education member resigns over racist, sexist, vulgar tweets
Virginian-Pilot
November 30, 2016
A Virginia Board of Education member resigned Wednesday over Twitter posts he made a few years ago that attacked women, white people and other groups.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed Wes Bellamy to the state board in the spring. Bellamy, 30, a Democrat, also serves as vice mayor in Charlottesville and teaches in Albemarle County.
Bellamy resigned, effective immediately, saying in a statement, “I would like to redirect my attention and focus to my family, the children and young people whom I serve, and to the City of Charlottesville.” The statement came from a spokesman in the governor’s office.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, blogger Jason Kessler published a story about a series of tweets and retweets Bellamy made between 2009 and 2014. Bellamy was teaching during part of that time in Albemarle County Public Schools.
Education
School district weighs ban of ‘Mockingbird,’ ‘Huckleberry Finn’ after complaint
Washington Post
December 3, 2016
A Virginia school district has pulled copies of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from classrooms and libraries while it weighs whether it should permanently ban the American classics because of the books’ use of racial slurs.
In response to a formal complaint from a parent, Accomack County Public Schools Superintendent Chris Holland said the district has appointed a committee to recommend whether the books should remain in the curriculum and stay in school libraries. District policy calls for the formation of the committee — which can include a principal, teachers and parents — when a parent formally files a complaint.
Virginia Tech undocumented students push for 'sanctuary campus'
Richmond Times-Dispatch
December 5, 2016
Juan de la Rosa says he knows far more about his Virginian heritage than his Mexican one.
But he says he’s afraid that won’t matter.
Following the election of Donald Trump, de la Rosa, a political science major at Virginia Tech, said he is terrified he might lose the identity he shares as a Virginian with the likes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
De la Rosa is an undocumented student . He fears that status could lead to him and his peers being rounded up and herded off to the nations of their parents.
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National & Federal Education News
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Supply of U.S. high school graduates is stagnating, posing challenge for colleges
Washington Post
December 6, 2016
The nation’s total output of high school graduates peaked in 2013 at nearly 3.5 million and is projected to stagnate for most of the next decade, but the Hispanic share is expected to boom, according to a new report.
The demographic shifts point to major recruiting challenges for colleges following an era of steady growth in high school graduates that started in the late 1990s. While that growth had provided a solid pipeline for schools focused on serving traditional students between the ages of 18 to 22, the supply of these students appears to be dwindling or leveling off in Maryland, Virginia and elsewhere.
As a result, many colleges have been forced to rethink how to fill seats and educate incoming students who are more likely than their predecessors to be the first in their families to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
What the world can learn from the latest PISA test results
The Economist
December 6, 2016
Football fans must wait for four years between World Cups. Education nerds get their fill of global competition every three. The sixth Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a test of the science, maths and reading skills of 15-year-olds from across the world, was published by the OECD club of mostly rich countries on December 6th. Its results have important lessons for policymakers worldwide.
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Are college presidents worth their weight in gold?
Several articles this week in the Richmond Times-Dispatch focused on recently compiled figures on the annual compensation of
public and
private college presidents. In the fiscal year 2015-16, VCU President Michael Rao topped the total compensation list for public university presidents at $900,940. Based on 2014 figures, former University of Richmond President Ed Ayers was the top private college president, earning $1,044,367 and joining a list of 39 private college president's nation-wide who earned more than $1 million in that year.
Obviously, such compensation is hefty, especially if compared to
what an adjunct professor might be able to make annually at some of the same institutions. (If you're interested in knowing more about what adjuncts reported making at Virginia colleges and universities, check out the Chronicle of Higher Education's
adjunct faculty salary survey.)
But really, a college president isn't yet worth their weight in gold. If you multiply the going price for a kilo of gold at around noon yesterday ($37,624.73) by the average weight for a male in the U.S. (87 Kgs), such a person's weight in gold would be just under $3.3 million. That's more in line with the annual compensation for a major university's true top earner - the head football coach.
UVA's Bronco Mendenhall makes about $3.25 million per year over the course of his 5 year contract.
Aside from our tongue-in-cheek desire to see whether a classic metaphor might be accurate, we were curious to look at how college presidents in Virginia stacked up on some pro-rated metrics rather than just their absolute salary. Specifically, does their pay look different if we divide it by the number of students enrolled under their leadership or based on how many degrees they award?
First, we visualized the locations and sizes of the salary information compiled by the Chronicle on Higher Education in their Executive Compensation at Private and Public Colleges
database. Because the latest information available for private colleges is from 2014, we also used the equivalent data for public university presidents. Not all institutions are represented in the database. (Click
here or on the graphic below to explore the various visualizations in more detail.)
Though its harder to tell from the size, the six major public institutions (George Mason, William & Mary, UVA, ODU, Virginia Tech and VCU) all compensate their executives at a rate that keeps them in the top 10 for the state. University of Richmond, Liberty, Ferrum and Washington & Lee are also in that top grouping.
While there is obviously a considerable range, we were struck by how similar the salaries are, compared with the much wider range in enrollment numbers for the different colleges. That was part of what inspired us to pro-rate the salary numbers for total enrollment and total degrees awarded in that same year (2014-15).
As you can see from the bottom scatterplot (with pay per enrollee on the Y-axis and pay per degree awarded on the X-axis) there is a much greater gap in these pro-rated numbers. Moveover, the public institutions' compensation (as well as Liberty University's) begins to look downright affordable by comparison. UVA ($78.60 of compensation to the president per degree awarded), VCU ($71.60) and Virginia Tech ($63.20) are about 3% of the same number for Randolph ($2,489 compensation to the president per degree awarded) or Ferrum ($2,560).
However, under this metric, the real winner is the Virginia Community College System, whose executive received only $23.10 per degree that the system awarded and $2.30 per student enrolled.
Of course this is partly just an illustration that executive compensation doesn't follow a linear pattern - if you give someone the title of President, you'll likely pay them in the same general range as others who have the title, even if the faculty, staff and students they oversee are less than 1/10th of what the presidents of large institutions oversee. A fairer comparison might be to look at total compensation for top executives - larger universities also have more vice-presidents than smaller ones. But, the comparison provides an interesting twist on the news coverage that often highlights the large compensation packages of large public university leaders.
In keeping with the higher education theme, we also wanted to share with you this week's
Poll Snapshot, which looks at how the public feels Virginia colleges and universities are doing at providing particular skill sets to graduates - generally public opinion gives the Commonwealth's institutions of higher education good marks. For example, 72% think those institutions are doing a good job of producing graduates in scientific fields.
We hope you're having a great week!
Sincerely,
CEPI
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CEPI Poll Snapshot - What is public opinion on the performance of Higher Education in Virginia?
A short data insight from our 2015-16
Commonwealth Education Poll.
Evaluating the Performance of Higher Education
Higher education is also a key player in developing a competitive workforce and equipping students for success in a career. When it comes to specific outcomes, strong majorities say Virginia colleges and universities are doing a good job in four critical areas related to workforce development. Seventy-two (72%) percent of Virginians say colleges and universities are doing a good job in producing graduates in scientific fields and 70% said the same about preparing students for the workforce needs for the future. Sixty-eight (68%) percent say the state schools do a good job providing the skills that will be useful in obtaining a job. A slightly smaller majority (65%) thinks they are doing a good job developing students’ writing and communication skills.
Public opinion on these factors is either steady or trending slightly upward over the last five years in which the Commonwealth Education Poll has asked the question. All of the variation is within the poll’s margin of error.
Different age groups evaluated higher education outcomes somewhat differently. Respondents in the 18-34 and 35-44 year-old groups were significantly more positive about the performance of colleges and universities in the area of developing students’ writing and communication skills (72% and 70% respectively said colleges were doing a good job). Older age groups were less likely to say the same, where only 59% of respondents in the 45-64 year-old group and 61% of the 65 or older group felt colleges were doing a good job.
Relative to the same outcome area of communication/writing skills, there was also a difference in perspective among those with college experience. Those with a college degree or more (60%) and those with some college (63%) were less likely to say colleges were doing a good job. This compared to 71% of respondents with a high school diploma or less who said the same.
In the area of preparing students for the workforce needs of the future, there was a significant difference in perspective based on partisan identity. Almost eight in 10 Democrats (79%) felt colleges were doing a good job, compared to 66% of Republicans and 61% of Independents. Those aged 35-44 (at 60%) were less likely to say the same, compared to those aged 18-34 (72%), 45-64 (75%) or 65 or older (72%).
(To read the full poll, visit our
website.)
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