Kansas regents freeze pay for five of six state university presidents

With one exception, presidents of state universities in Kansas won’t be getting raises this year.

The Kansas Board of Regents voted to increase the salary of only one leader of the state’s six public four-year institutions.

Pittsburg State University president Steve Scott will see a 2 percent boost to his salary for fiscal year 2017, which begins July 1. The raise will come in the form of deferred compensation, increasing Scott’s pay from $263,358 to $268,625.

Salaries for the five other presidents won’t change. Presidents’ salaries were raised last year to bring their pay in line with the competitive market, regents said at the time. However, because of budget challenges the campuses faced then, the presidents returned their raises to their schools.

Regents said they wanted to acknowledge that Scott, who has led Pittsburg State since July 2008, is the senior-most president in the state system, said board spokeswoman Breeze Richardson.

“They felt the other CEOs were receiving compensation that was appropriate, compared to peers,” she said.

The salaries remain at $510,041 for University of Kansas chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, $357,179 for Wichita State president John Bardo, $263,000 for Emporia State president Allison Garrett and $265,200 for Fort Hays State president Mirta Martin.

Kansas State University was paying Kirk Schulz $476,290 when he left earlier this year for Washington State University. Interim president Richard Myers is being paid $350,000. Regents announced Thursday they are accepting applications and nominations to fill the position.

This story was originally published June 17, 2016 at 1:03 PM with the headline "Kansas regents freeze pay for five of six state university presidents."