University teacher pay top priority

Monday, April 10, 2000 | 4:04 a.m.

RENO -- The top priority for the state's universities and colleges is no longer keeping up with growth but allowing faculty members to keep up with inflation, university system officials say.

"The cost of living has got to be at the top of the list," Tom Anderes, acting chancellor, told the university Board of Regents in Reno on Friday. Eliminating the disparity in funding that shortchanges schools in Southern Nevada is also a priority, he said.

The discussion came up as the system pieces together its budget for the next two years to present to the 2001 Legislature. The regents will take another look at the proposed spending program at their Las Vegas meeting in May, then are scheduled to vote on the budget in June in Elko.

It's not just a matter of faculty members making ends meet, said Candace Kant, Faculty Senate chairwoman at Community College of Southern Nevada, who was representing faculty groups from the state's seven university and community colleges.

Salaries were already lagging before 1999, when the faculty received no increase. If there's no raise again next year, she said, it will be impossible to retain and attract new faculty members.

"A COLA (cost of living adjustment) is not a raise but an adjustment in pay based on economic conditions," she said. "Lack of a COLA is a cut in pay."

No figure was set on how much the system will ask for. But Anderes said after the meeting that his staff may recommend a 3 percent pay increase in 2001 and another 3 percent in the following year.

A 1 percent faculty pay increase costs $3.5 million to $4.5 million a year, according to the state budget office.

UNLV President Carol Harter agreed that a cost of living raise is the highest priority and said the campuses should not have to finance salary increases by keeping positions vacant to save money.

The Legislature, she said, should give the university money for the pay increases rather than requiring that pay raises be financed from salary savings from positions that are not filled. She said the salary savings have been used to buy much needed equipment for her campus in the past.

Anderes noted that a "letter of intent" from the 1999 legislative money committees says that future pay raises be paid for by savings in the campus budgets.

Harter also said it would cost $7.6 million a year to bring UNLV to funding levels equal to the University of Nevada, Reno. It will take another $15.2 million a year to get Community College of Southern Nevada on an even keel with its sister schools.

A controversy brewed during the 1999 Legislature over equality of funding between the southern campuses and their northern counterparts. A special committee composed of legislators and educators is working on a new funding formula that treats all schools equally.

In past years, Anderes said, the regents' top priority has been to take care of growth first. Even as they change their focus to faculty raises, the university system is expecting even greater growth in the next decade.

The Millennium Scholarship program, which gives $2,500 a year to a high school student who graduates with a "B" average starting this year, is expected to fuel enrollment growth.

Harter says she expects a 7 percent increase next year and then a growth rate of 6 to 7 percent a year over the coming 10 years.

Anderes also outlined a tentative building program for the coming biennium, calling for $231.5 million in state funds, of which $165 million would be targeted for construction projects in Southern Nevada.

The acting chancellor, under questioning, conceded there probably would not be enough money in the state budget to finance all of the 17 projects sought by the system.

Regent Steve Sisolak of Las Vegas suggested there may be enough only for the top three projects, while Regent Dorothy Gallagher of Elko said that only eight of the 17 projects may get money.

The state may have only $200 million available to take care of the construction needs of not only the university and community colleges, but also the prisons, mental health facilities, youth correction camps and state office buildings.

Anderes listed the top priority as $9.4 million to complete four projects under way at four campuses, including CCSN.

The second priority is a $75 million science and engineering building at UNLV. About $50 million would come from the state and the rest from other sources, Anderes said. The third project is a health science and biotech center at CCSN costing $25 million, with $5 million coming from private sources.

Other priorities in Southern Nevada among the top 10 include improving UNLV Student Services facilities for $6.5 million and building classrooms at the proposed Nevada State College at Henderson at $36 million, with $26 million coming from the state.

The 11th through 13th priorities were renovating and adding to UNLV's Wright Hall at $23 million, all in state money; building a $27.5 million library for the Henderson college; and planning for a UNLV regional campus in Summerlin at $1 million.

A telecommunications building at CCSN to cost $20 million is the 15th highest priority. The state would put up $19 million for the project.

Cy Ryan covers state government for the Sun. He can be reached at (775) 687-5032.