The Faculty Council has been actively engaged with
Chancellor May and Talent Central regarding proposed compensation adjustments
for 2016-2017.
As noted in the post
from June 21, 2016, three new members were elected to the Board of Trustees
in May and June of 2016. Each race was competitive and two races went to
runoffs. Two of the winning candidates ran against opponents who promised to
cut spending in order to cut taxes. One of the winning candidates has promised
to continue fighting to cut spending and reduce taxes. Taxpayers throughout the
county who are unhappy with rising property tax bills are pressuring – and will continue to pressure – their elected officials to reduce taxes, even though DCCCD
taxes only comprise 4-5% of the average homeowner’s property tax bill, as noted
in the DCCCD
Multi Year Planning and Outlook (FY2017-2020), presented at the Board Work
Session on April 5, 2016.
The Faculty Council has worked diligently this spring and
summer to counter the strident anti-tax mood among many voters and to provide
opportunities for Dallas County voters to learn more about the candidates: it published
a voters guide and helped to organize and conduct four candidate forums before
the elections; it has engaged discussions with the Chancellor and the executive
team at a level unprecedented in the recent past; and it has reached out to the
new trustees directly, to share faculty perspectives on the important roles our
colleges play in our communities.
Property value assessments in Dallas County have risen
significantly, but our colleges’ needs remain great. Our District has been run with
fiscal conservatism for decades, often at the expense of necessary maintenance
and infrastructure updates to some of our facilities that are over 40 years
old. Moreover, salaries for many employees – particularly faculty hired between
1981 and 2006 – have not grown adequately to meet the District’s goal of “employee
success,” or even to match the salary growth that benefited faculty hired as
our colleges opened in the 1960s and 1970s.
Chancellor May and Talent Central have been working hard
within tight budgets to win Board approval to raise entering salaries to be
competitive in the marketplace and to create structures to allow faculty
salaries to rise. The one remaining challenge is one 30 years in the making –
the compression of faculty salaries – which is particularly acute for those
faculty hired between between 1981 and 2006. Faculty should be encouraged that
Chancellor May is taking steps unprecedented in the last two decades to present
the Board of Trustees with a comprehensive list of District needs, including
compensation adjustments that would promote employee success.
During the work sessions for the Board of Trustees on July 21
and 22 that covered a wide variety of District and college operations and
priorities, Chief Talent Officer Susan Hall presented an expense summary that
included $1.566 million for adjustments to faculty salaries in 2016-17. The
Faculty Council will continue to engage with both Susan Hall and the Chancellor
to refine her recommendations in order to better address the problem of salary
compression. The Board will continue to balance its fiduciary responsibility
with the many priorities our colleges need to serve our communities. A final
budget is to be adopted at the regular monthly Board of Trustees meeting on
Tuesday, Sept. 6.
Until then, we can look forward to the following milestones,
each of which will further crystalize the 2016-2017 budget and compensation
adjustments to be included therein:
Tuesday, August 2: Board of Trustees Work Session to
include Budget Presentation;
Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees with
an agenda item to discuss the proposed tax rate. The Board is required to take
a record vote and schedule public hearings if the proposed tax rate will exceed
the effective tax rate.
Tuesday, August 16: First of two public hearings on the tax
rate, if required.
Tuesday, August 23: Second of two
public hearings on the tax rate, if required.
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