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Florida Governor Posts Online Individual Faculty Salaries

October 18, 2011, 12:38 pm

The governor of Florida, in the midst of pushing for changes in the state’s higher-education system, has posted online the salary information of more than 50,000 employees of Florida’s four-year public universities, reports The Herald-Tribune, a newspaper in Sarasota, Fla. A spokesman for Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, told the paper the data had been posted in the name of transparency for taxpayers. Mr. Scott, who sees a Texas plan for overhauling higher education as a blueprint for his own state, recently said it makes no sense to spend tax dollars on degree programs in social-science fields such as anthropology when jobs for those majors aren’t readily available. It’s better to put state money into mathematics and science programs, he said.

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  • badger74

    Common practice in several states including Wisconsin for many years under open records laws.

  • 11285018

    I worked for public higher education in California for 26+ years (both faculty and administration). My salary was always public information, as it is in many states. As a taxpayer, I don’t really have a problem with that, and I’m surprised Florida hasn’t done this before.

  • lslerner

    It’s no surprise that Governor Scott has no understanding of the purpose of a university. I am myself a scientist but I put tremendous value on the things I learned in the social sciences and humanities as an undergrad. I suppose that Scott would like to simply close the universities and replace them with trade schools.

  • renellin

    I agree from a gen ed standpoint, well there’s a reason for gen ed. A well rounded education?

  • renellin

    How refreshing. It was my understanding that beginning salaries, perhaps even incremental add-ons would be available, as is the contract. I was not aware that individual’s salaries would be public. Glad to hear it!

  • gmanacheril

    The salaries of college faculty and public school teachers are public records in Florida and any one can access them. There is no need for the governor to publish them unless he wants to make a point

  • 11249173

    Same for Missouri – salaries of public employees are available on a website

  • felixaquino

    Given the fact that we are training our students for jobs that don’t yet exist, we need to give them adaptive skills. And the place where those adaptive skills are taught is in general education. In a very real sense, Gen Ed is Voc Ed.

  • 7738373863

    The governor does have a point.  He  is doing a perp walk with the fat-cat social scientists and humanists to show how much could be saved and reallocated if they were set free and the Florida system became a polytechnic.  The problem with such a transformation is that the information and skills that one learns become obsolete in five years, at which time one retrains or moves up the ladder.  If the governor studied the data to be accessed from the Department of Labor, he would learn that, ten years out, liberal arts baccalaureates are earning the same or slightly more than those who received BSBAs.  I wonder how well anthropology majors are doing.

  • buzzer

    This is transparency in its purest form.   Kudos to the Florida Governor!!!

  • archman

    Good news for Florida academics. Maybe all the college naysayers complaining about the “lazy, rich professors” will find out just how much most faculty in the state *actually* make.

  • agrudjr

    As many have noted, salaries are public for state institutions. At Purdue, my former institution, you can access this information in hard copy at the library, online on the local newspaper’s website, and the student newspaper published it in hardcopy each fall.

  • agrudjr

    I understand his daughter majored in anthropology, don’t know where…

  • 11182967

    And I presume that the dollar amounts and sources of every one of his campaign contributions are similarly public, as well as the complete federal and state income tax returns of the governor and all other statewide officials and legislators.

  • 22199179

    In the state of Washington ALL state employees pay is covered under open records law.  Guess who has the highest pay!!!!  You guessed it!  The head football coach at the University of Washington!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1126921205 Ed Williams

    One of the most brilliant full colonels I had the great pleasure of knowing in the USAF has a degree in philosophy. His work in the service (aircraft maintenance + reliability and maintainability engineering/studies + statistical quality control and high level staff studies) was exceptional. His problem-solving skills across diverse topics were of the highest level. I attribute much of his intellectual prowess to the analytical skills he learned and practiced in his undergraduate work in philosophy – a social science on the FL list of useless studies.

  • 22286504

    Many, perhaps most, states have for decades had open records laws that make salaries of public employees, including faculty members and adminsitrators, a matter of public record.   The only recent innovation is that this information is more readily accessible because of computer-based information systems.

    The real issue here is the Governor’s desire to close or significantly diminish programs outside of science and technology, because of his view that these other disciplines do not prepare people for positions in the nation’s economy.   Perhaps someone could gently remind him that we have a need for persons prepared to participate in the nation’s self government.  And both the skills and knowledge of many different disciplines–including, but certainly not limited to, science and technology–prepare people for the pre-eminent and only indispensable job in a free society: citizenship.

     

  • 11196496

    I taught at FSU for many years when all salary figures weree accessible to the public (by department, rank, years in rank, but not name).  For any student who asked, I would, of course, tell what my salary was. It was easier than sending them to look it up at the libray where it was back then. All who asked where shocked at how low it was. The end result was curiosity and sometimes anger about where the rest of their tuition money was going. 

  • jthelin

    Yes, as many commentators have noted, public institution salaries are public record — and that is both right and proper and widespread.  I do hope the Governor includes salaries of administrators. As for humanities and social science professors, my prediction is that any systematic analysis will show that they more than generate sufficient tuition and state subsidy funds in their class enrollments to pay their salaries — and to pay the salaries of a lot of administrators.  Transparency — open the records!

  • floridaprof

    Love the way the moralists here keep missing the point. Our salaries have always been public. You can simply google University of Florida salaries and you can pull up the data for the University of Florida–just for one institution. Rick Slop has made it a point to harass and bully faculty for the year. He wants to out-Perry Perry and play to his tea-party constituents in the state of Florida. The man is   a crook who bought his way into the governorship. He is also pathological narcissistic micromanager who will stop at nothing to bring attention to himself. This year will be a complete disaster for what is left of higher education in this state.

    And if you bother to consult the data you’d see how pathetically low our salaries are in contrast to other state schools. My own hope is that those people friendly to higher education in the state might actually realize how behind we are most other research schools. I fear, however, that there are too few people who actually care about education at all.

  • floridaprof

    You are right on. If you follow the news, you’d see the pattern of assault on us. He also wants to abolish tenure and raises. We are to have bonuses based on “customer satisfaction surveys.” The man is goon.

  • floridaprof

    Buzzer-dear. You are on the wrong website. The tea-party websites are much more to your taste, I think.

  • rpm13

    Buzzer: Tell us what you learned from this great data set. Here’s one possibility. The average Assistant Professor makes $69,745 and the average Associate Professor makes $65,531. What do you make of that? Hint: The data tell you nothing about what people make, but a lot about the usefullness of the data that you are thrilled with. Further, why the kudos to the gov for making public data that were already public in much more useable form?

  • awegweiser

    Is every Ricky in (or formerly in) public office a nut case? We have Perry, Santorum and now Scott.
    As noted the data is public and this is simply harassment of a profession he despises and would eliminate much of it from Florida – especially the disciplines he knows little or nothing about.

  • 22157233

    Interesting tactic from a former CEO (of HCA) guilty of Medicare Fraud.

  • crunchycon

    At Univ of IL-Urbana, once per year in the fall, the college newspaper, The Daily Illini, prints the salaries of all employees,civil service and academic, who make more than $30,000 per year, organized by department or unit.  As others have noted, this is public information and always has been at public universities.  Thepay  data on all employees used to be (and probably still is) available in the grad library.

  • keis8427

    As an outsider looking in, I find it very interesting to see the wide variance on salaries. Of course, it’s that way everywhere but this list has full names included which I believe will start some heated debates on campus!

  • 22067030

    This is a publicity stunt.  The Tampa Tribune has been posting this information for years.

    —–GLMcColm

  • 22118130

    Maybe you’re onto something there. It’s just like the name “Wayne” (or the variant, “Dwayne.”)
    As a former criminal prosecutor, I was always amazed by the number of people who came through the system with Wayne (or Dwayne) usually as a middle name. Maybe an inordinate number of Ricks in public office share traits as well. The only thing I can think of, other than being nut cases, is the three you mention also all seem to think God speaks to them directly. I understand one church in Texas put on the sign in front of the church, “Those voices you hear, Governor, that’s not me. Take your meds.” It was signed, “God.”

  • renellin

    I can’t imagine why you see this as harassment. I see it as an excellent tool. When negotiations come up, you may have the public on your side, depending on what it is you are arguing about. Whether you are proud or ashamed of your wage, what is wrong with sharing it with the taxpayers?

  • renellin

    If what you say is true, it should be good for you to have the salaries publicized. Why are you complaining?

  • renellin

    Here we go call him names (or imply) instead of dealing with the issue.

  • renellin

    Ed and felixaquino, I am right with you on this. The fact is, if the classes weren’t selling they would be eliminated. Even getting a diverse (pardon that overused word) course load is beneficial to a ‘future’ adult. I’m glad I am way on through gen ed classes, but they did significantly impact my education.

  • 11182967

    awegweiser:  Now, now–don’t forget the noble Rick of Casablanca.

  • opentosuggestion

    All of this information is public in Florida and has been for ages.  In fact, the faculty union makes it available on its website (or at least it did when I was in Florida).  This governor, like the union to be honest, hopes this information will provoke invidious comparisons.

  • awegweiser

    Rick of Casablanca was not elected, as I recall and not was not a schmuck as these 3 were.
    But thanks for the reminder of a great film and a great actor. 

  • marka

    Here in Oregon, although such info is -supposed- to be public record, various ‘public’ entities have made it difficult, if not impossible, to access such info.  See In the public interest: PERS records deserve look | OregonLive.com

    http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/10/in_the_public_interest_pers_re.htmlfor a recent summary of the ongoing efforts to make ‘public’ records actually accessible.  

    Many public entities routinely deny public records requests, or make access so onerous as to make it practically impossible.  Our Oregon higher ed system was particularly egregious – UoO, aka, Nike University, was just the most notorious.  Our current AG Kroger was courageous in bucking the long standing tradition of supporting agency recalcitrance – he has just announced he will not be seeking another term.  So much for courage in this state.

  • http://twitter.com/GerardHarbison Gerard Harbison

    Comparing with faculty here at Nebraska in my own discipline (Chemistry) your salaries are quite good. More noticeable, however, is the incredible number of support staff you have. 

  • http://twitter.com/GerardHarbison Gerard Harbison

    Here at Nebraska, our current salaries and our raises are published in the Board of Regents minutes every year. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being taunted by a student in an anonymous evaluation about my lousy raise last year. 

  • library09

    yes, I understand what you are saying very well, floridaprof – have been in FL for years, and have worked as a prof for years.  here is my conundrum:  the man is a goon – but the people of FL voted him into office !!!  so … who is better at getting his/her/their point across to the general public – we, the academics, or the goon ?  I also happen to be a social scientist – worthless study, according to Scott – but according to my research over the past few years, employers want students out of college who can write and read, and prepare a budget … I am sure that they will, eventually, learn that in a vocational program – right ?

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