UGA salaries near bottom

The University of Georgia is now down near the bottom of faculty salaries among comparable schools. Only one of UGA’s 15 peer institutions has a lower average salary for the most experienced professors, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. In the past 8 to 12 years, the university has fallen victim to what is called salary compression, where raises have not kept pace with inflation and industry standards.

Professors’ pay scales have fallen so far behind that U-G-A is losing important faculty members like Pulitzer Prize-winner Ed Larson and Eve Troutt-Powell, who won the MacArthur Genius Award. Former Governor Zell Miller gave professors a series of raises to combat the problem, but salaries have languished during the tenures of Governors Roy Barnes and Sonny Perdue.

Governor pushes for state budget cuts

State budget writers are back to square one after Governor Sonny Perdue adjusted projections for state revenues this week. Some say Perdue's initial assessment may have been too optimistic. Governor Perdue now wants state employee and teacher salary increases cut by half a percentage point. He is also suggesting reducing funds earmarked for school buses and technology.

The state House and Senate budget committees must now rewrite their proposals. Perdue says a slowing economy is to blame. But, House Speaker pro tem Mark Burkhalter says the state's 1.5 billion dollar rainy day fund should be tapped and that Perdue should support tax cuts this year. The Governor has said he will use the rainy day fund only if the economy keeps slipping.