Faculty Salaries and the Rest of the Story

The FCCJ administration has pointed out to the Board of Trustees that the faculty at FCCJ are among the best paid in the state. After all, The Fact Book (Report for the Florida Community College System), issued spring break 2002, shows that the mean salary at FCCJ is the 5th highest of the 14 largest community colleges in the state.

A closer look, however, indicates that there is more to the story. When adjusted for FCCJ s higher teaching load (on a points per term basis), FCCJ is 12th out of the 14 largest. At the M.A. level (the largest number of FCCJ's faculty), even when not adjusted for teaching load, FCCJ is still 12th out of 14.

The FCCJ administration has implied to the Board of Trustees that the faculty at FCCJ may simply be misinformed. After all, in 2000, the college gave the faculty a 12% reduction in contract length (from a 205- to 180-day/36 week contract) in exchange for a 2-year freeze in base salary. They ask how someone can be upset with that.

A closer look, however, indicates that there is more to the story. Every faculty member who takes advantage of the reduced contract length must teach a 10% heavier load during the 36 weeks. The cost of the new contract was equivalent to an annual faculty raise of 3-4%, but the administration insisted on a 2-year base salary freeze. A one-year freeze would have been sufficient to be fiscally responsible.

A vote "yes" for collective bargaining on April 3rd/4th means that the Board will get the opportunity to hear "the rest of the story."

By Richard Ceci, Professor of Economics
 
(with a tip of the hat to Paul Harvey)