Higher education's
dirty little secret
From custodians and secretaries to doctoral professors,
Montana's higher education employees make far less than
their counterparts nationwide, and we're losing good people
as a result.
That was the report MEA-MFT and others brought to the state
Board of Regents at its September meeting in Billings.
Erik Burke, public policy director for MEA-MFT, presented
data showing that faculty salaries in Montana are among
the lowest in the country, ranking 45th at the state's four-year
schools and next to last at the two-year schools.
Burke spoke as a member of the Recruitment and Retention
Task Force created by the Regents to study employee turnover
problems. See
Burke's presentation.
The task force's report showed that higher education institutions
in Montana are having trouble keeping high-quality employees
and filling vacancies.
Eventually, losing good faculty could result in the loss
of students and even accreditation, the committee warned.
Calling it Montana's "dirty little secret," Burke
showed that the salary gap for faculty gets worse the longer
professors teach in Montana.
Young professors, he said, start out earning $8,000 less
than the national average. By the end of their careers,
they are $25,000 behind the national average, Burke said.
"Essentially, faculty get penalized for their commitment
to our students and institutions," he said. "It's
no wonder morale is so low and turnover is growing."
The task force offered several recommendations to fix the
problem. The top recommendation was to work with the governor's
office on employee pay issues earlier in the state budgeting
process.
The task force also suggested incentives for new hires,
such as helping employees with housing, day care, and tuition
for their children.
The Board of Regents took no action on the recommendations.
"We will keep hammering away at this," Burke
said. "We're not going away. Montana's economy and
our children's future depend on a strong higher education
system. We can't have that without quality employees. We
have to make it worth their while to stay in Montana."
