In the News
Alabama 2-year chancellor salary is questioned
Associate Press, Hunter, 6/23/09
Former two-year college system chancellor Bradley Byrne tried to change many things he inherited from Roy Johnson, his disgraced predecessor who was ousted from the post and later pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
Byrne, who is now running a Republican campaign for governor billing himself as the candidate of reform, backed the state school board in banning two-year college employees from holding elected office and sought to lift morale in the bruised department.
But one part of Johnson's legacy remains unchanged -- a salary that included a 2005 raise of nearly 22 percent that put Byrne's and his successor's compensation well above the amounts previously paid.
State school board members voted in May 2005 to increase Johnson's annual pay from $198,408 to $241,600 after becoming concerned he might leave the system to take a job at the Alabama Education Association. Later that year he received another raise when his contract was renewed and his pay grew to $257,861, including retirement and housing compensation.
At the time of Johnson's raise, the median chancellor's salary was $173,400 for the 2004-05 school year, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Byrne, who took over the chancellor's office in May 2007, had a contracted salary of $282,325 when he resigned last month to run for governor. That amount included retirement benefits, housing and a $2,400 annual expense account.
A report by the American Association of Community Colleges shows the average amount of compensation and benefits for community college CEOs was $221,629 in 2006. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the median salary for two-year chancellors in 2008-09 is $246,136.
A draft of the state school board's announcement to find Byrne's replacement lists a base pay of $248,325 but says the salary is negotiable.
"I took the salary as it was at the time that I was asked to become chancellor and I never asked for an increase," Byrne said Monday, adding that his compensation was never brought up as a matter of concern.
He said no one suggested a decrease in salary either, but that he did offer to participate in a furlough if the system decided to go that route to cut spending.
Montgomery state school board member Stephanie Bell says she's worried that the 2005 raises have forever inflated the pay for the position.
"I opposed the salary before and because we were stuck with what we paid Johnson, that's why the board agreed to pay Mr. Byrne what he ended up with at the time," she said.
Bell is also against listing any salary amounts on the announcement, saying that's something that should be discussed between the candidate and hiring committee.
"It becomes a starting point instead of a possibility (if it's listed) and my preference is to leave it at 'salary is negotiable,'" she said.
The chancellor directs all matters concerning the community college system, which includes 25 two-year colleges and a state university and military school along with an adult training center and technology network.
The chancellor reports to the State Board of Education and acts as chief of the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education. State school Superintendent Joe Morton, who oversees the 167-district K-12 system and also reports to the state school board, has an annual salary of $197,954.72.
School board member Mary Jane Caylor of Huntsville said the salary for the incoming chancellor is worth another look.
"I think we need to look at it from scratch -- go in and see what the commands of the job are, what we need to be competitive and look at the salaries of other chancellors in the region," she said. "I think that we don't need to base it on what happened in the past."
