Posted on 02/03/2004 11:35:38 AM PST by cogitator
Yes.
And if they don't think they are (wasting the taxpayer's money), can the taxpayers show them where it's being wasted?
Already been done. Nobody is listening.
If you're trying to advocate higher taxes for Oregon, don't.
How about I start with just one?
Hillsboro School District *borrowed* several million dollars from a bank to build a new state-of-the-art DISTRICT OFFICE for Administrators. Their new high school has an ELEVATED TRACK, not a ground-level one.
The Beaverton School Board gave pay raises with the property tax increase instead of using it on books and programs.
Since you think all of this is 'required' -- defend yourself.
I'm getting my data from the schoolteachers. Where are you getting yours from? The DNC?
I most seriously doubt it!
Do you really think that a suitable president can't be found for the University of Oregon for a salary less than $660,000/year?
Tomorrow the bleeding hearts will be all over the airwaves and in the classrooms.
Rep. Lane Shetterly, R-Dallas, is speaker pro tem and chairman of the House Revenue Committee. He can be reached at (503) 623-0324.
Anybody who lives in this clown's district should already be chomping at the bit to throw the scumbag OUT.
Ha! You got that right. Same thing in Tennessee. Remember how the sky was gonna fall if the scumbag politicians couldn't get their filthy hands on more of other people's money? Well, the sky didn't fall.
In a shameless promotion of my post, I have started a new thread with the most recent election returns posted here
Top 10 Reasons to Oppose
#2 - The real aim of the Blank Check Initiative is to make it easier for the legislature to increase our income tax, sales tax, property tax, car tax, and other state taxes, year after year. Prop. 56 pretends to discipline Sacramento politicians, but it actually rewards them with an open-ended blank check.
I'm not in a position to judge. First of all, I was talking about school system superintendents, not university presidents. Second, university presidents have a job that's a lot like the CEO of a major corporation: they have to do administration, lobby for funds from the state, attract donors, make short-term and long-term plans, discipline unruly coaches (I had to toss that in), determine where the university should have high-profile programs (like biotechnology or Latin classics, etc.) -- in short, they do a lot of things. A really good university president can definitely affect the fortunes of a school, which also goes for a really bad university president.
Here's an idea. Evaluate the total budget of the University of Oregon, and determine what size of company is similar. Then see what they are paying the CEOs of companies that size. Should you pay a university president an approximately equivalent amount?
So would you also use that criteria for the office of Governor of the entire State of Oregon? U. of O. president gets $660,000, the governor gets something like $90,000.
No, I wouldn't even use the salary of the POTUS, which is $400,000 (I believe). In my mind, a university (even public university) is more like a corporation than a government department, and the position of a university president is a lot different than a standard civil-service position. As an example, numerous Cabinet members have left multi-million dollar positions to serve the government for much lower salaries; government positions are not compensated fairly for what they demand, and the people who take those positions do them for reasons other than monetary gain. In contrast, a university president should be compensated for doing his job well, and while the criteria by which success would be judged is different than for a private corporation, success in this realm should still be compensated at market value.
[Note before proceeding: this is a different argument than for a public school system superintendent. While I think that such positions should be compensated fairly, I also think that the bidding for so-called "top talent" is spiraling out of control, and there are good (i.e., bad) examples of that here in Maryland.]
Not knowing the numbers, I Googled on "university president salaries". Very interesting results:
Top College President Salaries Approaching $1 Million, New Survey Reports
Excerpted:
"While pay for public university presidents still has not reached those heights, the salary gap between public and private college leaders is rapidly shrinking, according to the report. Twelve public university presidents will earn more than $500,000 in 2003-4, twice the number of last year. "
The article also notes that states only pay a portion of the salaries of university presidents for public universities. "In reaction to the rising presidential salaries, some state governments have proposed capping the state contribution to public presidential salaries. Florida has already imposed a cap on the state contribution, while a bill under consideration in Ohio would limit state contributions to presidential salaries to the same salary as the governor."
That seems reasonable.
One more article:
UF president to be among highest paid in the nation
Excerpting a couple of paragraphs; pay attention to the last one:
"GAINESVILLE - Incoming University of Florida president Bernie Machen could make up to an average of $685,625 annually if he stays eight years and meets goals set by the school's trustees.
That salary package would make him among the most highly paid public university presidents in the country, according to a Sunday report in the Gainesville Sun, which obtained a draft of his contract."
...
"Last year, state lawmakers set a $225,000 limit on the amount of public money that can be spent annually on a president's salary.
UF equally will tap three direct support organizations to pay Machen beyond the cap: the UF Foundation, the University Athletic Association and Shands Healthcare, said Manny Fernandez, the UF trustee who recruited Machen."
....
"If you want to be in the top 10 among public universities in rankings, he ought to be compensated at that level," Fernandez said. "You are talking about running a very complex $3-billion company here."
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