AGENCY RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY
AGENCY RECOMMENDATION SUMMARY:
Washington State University strongly
endorses an average salary increase of five percent each year for all its
employees. Compensation must be set at a competitive level for higher education
institutions to recruit and retain high-quality faculty, staff, and students.
|
|
2007-08 |
|
2008-09 |
|
2007-09 |
|
By Fund |
FTE |
Dollars |
|
FTE |
Dollars |
|
Biennium |
|
General Fund State |
-
|
10,805,000
|
|
-
|
22,149,000
|
|
32,954,000
|
|
Total |
- |
$10,805,000
|
|
- |
$22,149,000
|
|
$32,954,000
|
PACKAGE DESCRIPTION:
Washington State University is only as
effective as the people it employs. There is no other single factor that even
comes close. To ensure that world-class employees are recruited and
retained, they must be compensated at competitive rates.
The faculty and staff of Washington State
University have been effective in providing our state’s citizens access to a
nationally-competitive level of education. They are finding success in
preparing the next generation of entrepreneurs, nurses, engineers and scientists
and they produce the knowledge that drives a prosperous, creative, caring, and
democratic society.
Compensation for faculty, classified
staff, teaching assistants, professional staff, and librarians are critical for
success in teaching, research and public service. Yet, there are strong
indications that Washington’s world-class university employees are not being
compensated at nationally-competitive rates. Since it adversely impacts
recruitment and retention of employees, it simultaneously threatens the
investment this state has made in competitive research and instruction.
NARRATIVE JUSTIFICATION AND IMPACT STATEMENT:
Background:
Four-year higher education institutions
in the state of Washington rank sixth out of ten among “Global Challenge States”
in terms of the average salary for professors. These are the states identified
in the Washington Learns process as being players in the “new economy.”
They include Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey,
Connecticut, Virginia, Minnesota, and North Carolina.
Washington’s salary competitiveness is
worse when you look at just the research universities. Washington ranks next to
last among these peer states.
When WSU selected comparable research
institutions in the Global Challenge States, it found:
-
WSU was dead last in full professor
salaries, more than $7,000 per year behind the ninth-ranked school and
nearly $30,000 per year behind the top-paying schools.
-
For associate professors, WSU was
more than $11,000 behind the peer average.
-
For assistant professors, WSU trailed
the peer average by $5,000 per year.
This is the first year that WSU has
tracked states that make up the new economy. But there are similar messages in
data that relates to those institutions that Washington State University has
made comparisons with for nearly two decades: the fellow land grant institutions
that have strong liberal arts programs, engineering schools and Colleges of
Veterinary Medicine. Compared to these institutions, WSU lags in average
faculty salaries by more than 14 percent.
This biennial budget is an opportunity to
send a message to the national job market that the state of Washington values
its higher education employees and it will protect and enhance its world-class
universities by providing competitive compensation.
|
FISCAL DETAIL TABLES - KEEPING
THE BEST IN WASHINGTON |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2007-08 |
|
2008-09 |
|
2007-09 |
|
By
Program |
FTE |
Dollars |
|
FTE |
Dollars |
|
Biennium |
|
Instruction |
|
4,233,000
|
|
|
8,672,000
|
|
12,905,000
|
|
Research |
|
1,301,000
|
|
|
2,667,000
|
|
3,968,000
|
|
Public Service |
|
1,091,000
|
|
|
2,235,000
|
|
3,326,000
|
|
Primary Support |
|
909,000
|
|
|
1,864,000
|
|
2,773,000
|
|
Libraries |
|
343,000
|
|
|
702,000
|
|
1,045,000
|
|
Student Services |
|
563,000
|
|
|
1,155,000
|
|
1,718,000
|
|
Institutional Support |
1,190,000
|
|
|
2,443,000
|
|
3,633,000
|
|
Plant |
|
1,175,000
|
|
|
2,411,000
|
|
3,586,000
|
|
Total |
- |
$10,805,000
|
|
- |
$22,149,000
|
|
$32,954,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By Object |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Salaries |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Faculty |
|
4,086,000
|
|
|
8,376,000
|
|
12,462,000
|
|
A/P |
|
2,925,000
|
|
|
5,996,000
|
|
8,921,000
|
|
TA/GA |
|
511,000
|
|
|
1,047,000
|
|
1,558,000
|
|
Classified |
|
1,950,000
|
|
|
3,998,000
|
|
5,948,000
|
|
Benefits |
|
1,333,000
|
|
|
2,732,000
|
|
4,065,000
|
|
Goods/Services |
|
-
|
|
|
-
|
|
-
|
|
Travel |
|
-
|
|
|
-
|
|
-
|
|
Equipment |
|
-
|
|
|
-
|
|
-
|
|
Total |
- |
$10,805,000
|
|
- |
$22,149,000
|
|
$32,954,000
|
