Higher Ed Subcommittee Questions College about $100k in Raises
By: Marci Manley
Updated: April 12, 2012
Northwest Arkansas Community College (NWACC) Board Chairman and College President Becky Paneitz fielded questions from the Arkansas Legislative Council's Higher Education Subcommittee on why those raises came even as faculty and staff have been passed by for raises and students are seeing tuition increases.
"We can't say definitively that key administrators or faculty leave because of money. But we have to assume that is part of the reason," said Alex Vasquez, the NWACC Board Chairman.
The essential explanation provided by NWACC representatives for the raises: competition. With a number of higher education institutions, and some of the highest paid public school systems in the state, the board felt that approving those pay increases would allow NWACC to keep qualified staff they might otherwise lose.
NWACC Dr. Becky Paneitz said the school is in compliance with state law. According to the college, it has lost 10 administrators over the last three years.
Paneitz announced she plans to retire, after 10 years at the helm of the college, in 2013.
"We can't say definitively that key administrators or faculty leave because of money. But we have to assume that is part of the reason," said Alex Vasquez, the NWACC Board Chairman.
The essential explanation provided by NWACC representatives for the raises: competition. With a number of higher education institutions, and some of the highest paid public school systems in the state, the board felt that approving those pay increases would allow NWACC to keep qualified staff they might otherwise lose.
NWACC Dr. Becky Paneitz said the school is in compliance with state law. According to the college, it has lost 10 administrators over the last three years.
Paneitz announced she plans to retire, after 10 years at the helm of the college, in 2013.
Comments
The "qualified staff" that makes a college worthwhile is the faculty, not the [censored] pencil pushers. Vasquez and Panietz are clueless about what education is about. The entire Arkansas Higher Ed. system is more concerned about mollifying their bureaucrat buddies than educating students.
John E.
April 12, 2012 at 9:12 pm
The "qualified staff" that makes a college worthwhile is the faculty, not the [censored] pencil pushers. Vasquez and Panietz are clueless about what education is about. The entire Arkansas Higher Ed. system is more concerned about mollifying their bureaucrat buddies than educating students.
John E.
April 12, 2012 at 9:12 pm
