College Chancellor’s Salary Key in Teacher Pay Feud

Almost since the day he moved into his office three years ago, community college Chancellor Philip Westin has been under attack.

Teachers, especially, have made an issue of Westin’s salary. It was a constant theme during recent contract negotiations. Westin is overpaid, teachers’ union officials argued, while they are just trying to get their fair share.

An analysis of salaries paid to community college executives statewide shows that Westin’s annual salary, at $151,794, makes him one of the highest-salaried chief executives among those who oversee college districts with more than one campus.

Westin’s top aide, Deputy Chancellor Michael Gregoryk, was the highest-paid chief business officer in the state last school year at $127,559, according to a report by the Assn. of California Community College Administrators. Gregoryk now makes $135,591; comparable data for the present school year is not yet available.

But while critics argue that high salaries and multiyear contracts siphon money away from students, Westin’s supporters contend that the pay is reasonable, if not low.

It’s not fair to make judgment calls based solely on salary, they say. The salaries in many California districts are accompanied by more enticing, but less visible, perks. These include housing allowances, entertainment accounts and cars, which can add up to thousands of dollars in extra compensation.

“The other districts that we have looked at have a lot of bonuses that they pay to chancellors . . . that are technically hidden,” trustee Norman Nagel said. “And we’re upfront with that. There are no hidden bonuses that tend to smoke screen what their true compensation is.”

Coming off a lengthy and sometimes ugly contract negotiation process that focused on faculty salaries, who takes home how much has and continues to be a point of contention between instructors and administrators.

Trustee John Tallman doesn’t care if you’re talking salary or salary plus perks. Westin and Gregoryk make too much, he said.

“I just don’t feel that it’s fair to taxpayers,” Tallman said. “We have to use taxpayers’ money more wisely and use it closer to the classroom.”

Faculty union officials take it more personally.

“His salary for a district of this size is probably fair,” said Larry Miller, president of the Ventura County Federation of College Teachers. “His salary based on what he’s done for three years is four times what it’s worth.”

During the last school year, when Westin’s salary was $142,000, he was the fourth highest-paid chancellor at a California multi-college district. However, where the report indicates extra compensation, the Ventura district shows zero, unlike almost all the other 19 multi-college districts in the state.

For example, in Santa Clara County’s Foothill-De Anza district last year, the chancellor was paid $137,957, with perks totaling $12,355. And in Los Angeles, where the chancellor oversees nine colleges, the salary is $140,000 and bonuses total $26,000.

At $170,294, San Francisco Chancellor Del Anderson was the highest-paid chief executive of any community college in the state when the association conducted its study last year. He also received $12,200 in extra compensation annually.

“You have to look at total compensation,” Westin said. “You have to. Otherwise, you’re comparing an apple to a cucumber.”

Westin’s salary is also higher than his Ventura County four-year university counterparts.

Cal State Channel Islands President Handel Evans will earn $146,292 this year, making him one of the lower-paid leaders in the system. In September, Cal State presidents were granted raises that averaged 10%.

Cal Lutheran President Luther Luedtke earned $138,382 in 1996. The private four-year university also contributed $15,500 to his benefits plan, tax records report. Along with his salary, Luedtke is given a house near the campus.

3 Raises Awarded Since Taking Over

In terms of raises, Westin has done well for himself, garnering three since he took over as chancellor in January 1996. The first, of $10,000, came eight months after he started, pushing his salary to $135,000.

In the fall of 1997, the board bumped him up to $142,000. And in August, Westin’s contract was renewed and along with the renewal came another raise.

At an average of 6.6%, Westin’s salary hikes over the past three years exceed last year’s state average of 5.7%.

“He is a hard-working chancellor who communicates with the board, has done what we asked him to do, and has taken a lot of heat and abuse, so we opted to pay him the going rate,” board President Allan Jacobs said.

Responsible for more than 30,000 students, the first-time chancellor, who came to Ventura County after serving as president of Golden West College in Orange County, makes no excuses for his wage.

“At days, I feel I’m being paid very well, and at others, there isn’t enough money on God’s green earth for what my wife, daughter and I have gone through,” Westin said, referring to the tumultuous labor dispute.

Contract negotiations lasting almost two years are just one reason why faculty members have spoken out against Westin’s salary. Some argue that the chancellor has made little or no effort to reach out to the instructors.

Faculty members also argue that Westin has not worked to set a long-term educational plan for the district and has created a district top-heavy with administrators.

They also point to the disparity in administrative salaries compared to teachers’ wages.

Full-time faculty members in the state made an average of $54,682 two years ago, according to the state chancellor’s office. At that time, Ventura County faculty salaries started as low as $31,014 and went up to $65,129. An average was not available.

Today, the 395 full-time instructors earn an average of $58,000, according to the Ventura County Federation of College Teachers. This does not include overtime, stipends or benefits. Statewide averages are not yet available.

But according to an informal survey conducted by Westin’s office in October, the faculty average is $73,648. That study took into account all overtime and summer earnings. Five full-time faculty members earn more than $100,000 a year and 22 make more than $95,000, the report found.

Raises are determined by a complex formula based on the district’s income from the state, and faculty members have seen smaller increases than Westin in recent years. In 1996, faculty members were granted a 5.78% pay increase. That number dropped to 2.97% the following year and 3.23% this academic year.

Top Administrators Overpaid, Teachers Say

Full-time faculty members say they are not complaining about their salaries, but they still maintain that top administrators are overpaid.

Administrators “are doing real well and we’re doing OK,” said Elton Hall, the union’s chief negotiator and Moorpark College Academic Senate president.

The 1,039 part-time instructors outnumber the full-timers more than 2-to-1. Part-time pay starts at $36 for every hour in the classroom and goes up to $44 an hour for anyone who has taught in the system for more than 17 years.

The top-heavy district should be pared down, with more money allocated to the classrooms, Miller said.

Each campus has different needs, but Miller would like to see more full-time faculty members and facility improvements.

“What I would try to do is get as much money directed toward those campuses as possible,” he said.

One reason that chief executive officer salaries are so hefty is the positions are highly competitive.

Districts often offer attractive extras to entice new presidents and chancellors, although those benefits vary from district to district.

Attractive salaries aren’t necessarily extravagant, argues Jean Dowdall, a vice president of the A. T. Kearney Executive Search firm based in Alexandria, Va.

“It’s not just that you have to work early in the morning and late at night,” said Dowdall, who specializes in national searches for top administrators of colleges and universities.

“You have the future of thousands of people in your hands. . . . If you make a few bad decisions, all those people can be jeopardized in one way or the other.”