The Ventura County Community College Board of Trustees recently approved a sizable raise in the annual salary for the chancellor position amid an unprecedented number of classes being cancelled due to budget constraints, according to the American Federation of Teachers Vice President of part-time faculty Renee Fraser.
“It’s a massive salary increase and we object to it,” Fraser said. “Our main concern as teachers is that classes are being cancelled, some with as many as 20 students. There have been over 80 classes cancelled this semester alone. This is new. We’ve never done this before.”
The board approved a salary range of $275,000 to $310,000, up from $235,000, for the new chancellor the board is planning to hire next year. The salary range was determined based upon the research and recommendation of a consulting group that looked at the salaries of chancellors serving at similarly situated colleges across the state, according to Board of Trustees Chair Larry Kennedy.
“The Board of Trustees unanimously agreed that the increase is reasonable, appropriate and necessary,” Kennedy said. “The new salary puts the VCCCD chancellor’s salary at the average of California community college districts of similar size.”
The district has also recently increased the maximum salary for college presidents and district vice-chancellors, according to Fraser who points to increased class-sizes, some with more than 50 students, as well as the unprecedented number of cancelled classes in conjunction with the increases in administrative salaries as evidence that the district’s priority is not to provide a quality education to its students.
“This obviously decreases the quality of education and student access,” Fraser said. “It really shows where the priorities of the district are.”
The salary increase amounts to a 17% to 32% increase over the current salary of $235,000. The last time the teachers received a raise was a 3% increase, according to Fraser.
“The raise alone, just the raise not the whole salary, is more than the annual salaries of 70% of the faculty in the district,” Fraser said.
The district’s labor contract with its teachers, through American Federation of Teachers local 1828, expired in June and negotiations for a new contract will be starting soon, according to Fraser.
Moorpark College President Luis Sanchez expressed concern that the timing of the raise could have an effect on the upcoming negotiations.
“I’m not quarreling at all with the board of trustees and I’m assuming that what the recruiter is saying is sound,” Sanchez said. “At minimum the timing is a little awkward. You can bet that it’s going to impact the negotiations for all employee groups.”
