New UW President to Follow Nyland's Lead

The Times is reporting that new (but long-time with UW) president, Ana Mari Cauce, will be paid $910K per year and has said she will donate $100,000 back to the university for "student programs and scholarships."  She will do this over the life of her five-year contract which means half-a million dollars back to UW.

Oh wait, I guess the two gestures on the part of President Cauce and Superintendent Nyland aren't really all that similar.
The Superintendent is currently making $276,075 and with his raise, he'll be making $289,878.75 (base salary.)  His salary increase is $13,803.75.  His contract allows him 30 days paid vacation (and he can carry up to 30 days over to the next year's vacation or elect to receive that in compensation.)  Naturally, that does not include legal holidays. 

He has said he will give half of his raise - $6,901.50 - back to the district's General fund for one year.  That donation represents a little over 4% of his salary (and that's for one year.) Her donation represents about 11% of her total base salary.

Let's see if I can do this again.  He would be giving back half of the raise of $13,803 or $6901.  His new base pay will be $298,878 and that $6901 is about 2.3%.  The UW President is giving $100,000 out of a base pay of $910,000 which is about 11% of her salary.

One irony is that - to my surprise - Superintendent Nyland is NOT the highest paid superintendent in the state.  That honor belongs to Kent's super, Edward Vargas, who makes a whopping $596,212 (including benefits.)  He has been superintendent there for at least five years.  Spokeman Review link of OSPI data (one reader says this is wrong and that Mr. Vargas' salary was double-counted.)

The next highest paid super is Gregory Baker in Bellingham at $308,302.  What's interesting is that Superintendent Baker's salary is fairly low ($185,450) but he has a lot of bonuses/stipends. And then Nyland comes in third.

To note; former SPS interim superintendent Susan Enfield makes $256,572 at Highline and former SPS chief academic officer, Carla, Santorno, now superintendent in Tacoma, makes $263,114.

I note that the Superintendent's contract was signed by Sherry Carr and Ron English. English likely negotiated this which reminds me to find out what HIS exiting compensation package is.

Comments

GarfieldMom said…
Melissa, please correct your info above.

Kent's former superintendent Vargas did NOT receive that amount. According to the Kent's superintendent's office, his salary was double reported that year. He left Kent last year and they have a new superintendent.

Greg Baker does not make that much annually. His salary for THAT YEAR reflects that he received a retention bonus for staying with his district five years. His annual salary is $233,000 without that bonus.

Look at the table in this post, and see the notes that directly follow it. Nyland IS the highest paid superintendent in the state, in base salary, total salary, and total compensation. Period.

Also, the $6901.50 is not 4% of his salary, it's 2.38%. And if you want to compare apples to apples, you have to use Cauce's base salary + deferred compensation as the basis for figuring what percentage of her salary she's giving back, so she's giving closer to 12% annually. Over the life of their respective contracts, his "give back" represents 0.8% of his salary, and hers is 11.79%.
If you follow the link, that's what it says. Where did you get your information? The link I provide, the info comes from OSPI.

No, the $6900 is not his salary but his raise. And that's about 4%.
Anonymous said…
From the link GarfieldMom provided: In the Spokesman-Review database, Kent’s previous superintendent, Edward Vargas, is shown with a salary of $526,640 base/$596,212 total compensation, which is clearly inaccurate. I confirmed with the Kent superintendent’s office that Vargas’ salary was double reported in that database.

$6,900 is 4% of 172,500.

Another mom
Anonymous said…
The Horror, how is she going to get by with only $810,000 per year? Did she give up her NIKE board position or is she going to donate that $217,000 to toys for tots?

Robbed blind
GarfieldMom said…
Melissa, I don't see a link in your post?

The info I provided comes from OSPI via the Spokesman-Review. I just dug further, so my own research makes it more accurate.

The idea that the Kent superintendent made half a million $ made me say "what?" so I looked at his compensation for several years before that to confirm that yes, that was an outlier. So I called the Kent superintendent's office, and the lovely woman who answered the phone said his salary was double-reported in the database. He did not make that much, he made half that.

The Bellingham superintendent's salary also raised a question in my mind, because again, I went back to the previous years and his 2014-15 compensation was $75,000 higher than it had been in previous years. I highly doubted he had gotten a $75,000 raise. So I dug again, and it turns out he got a $75,000 retention bonus after being with the district five years. That was part of his contract. His salary didn't change.

Nyland IS the highest paid super in the state.

$6901.50 = 2.38% of $289,878.75
(6901.50/289878.75)*100 = 2.38

Anonymous said…
You rock GarfieldMom - very clearly laid out information

reader47
GarfieldMom said…
Melissa, I don't know why you're so resistant to hearing that your information is wrong, but you're welcome to verify it yourself. Leaving the inaccurate information really diminishes what was an otherwise very astute point about the difference between the two administrators' offers to return a portion of their salaries to their institutions.
ProSleep Mom said…
Just a note about Bellingham's Superintendent Baker. He is an amazingly responsive and engaged superintendent. When researching bell time process in other cities I wrote to the Bellingham District, and promptly got an answer from the super himself. He had the documents I wanted sent right off to me. And you should read his thoughtful and informative blog:
https://bellinghamschools.org/blog/679251

Anonymous said…
Of course the gestures aren't similar. Even with her give back, she's making well over double what he is...while $276k-$289k is far from poverty levels, she's making nearly 3x what he is, even after "giving back" $100k this year. Her actual "sacrifice" is still far smaller despite the higher looking tag.

I'd be happy to "give back" $200k to any group that wants to pay me $900k a year.

North Seattle
Rufus X said…
And the UW head football coach is making almost 3x as much as the school's President ($2.75 mil).
X said…
ProSleep Mom posted a link above that I'm going to make clickable:

Bellingham Superintendent's Blog

Please people, go read this blog. Click on any thread, like this one: Sleep and School Start and End Times to get an idea of what it means to really, truly engage with the school community.

This guy is amazing. I'm not sure when he sleeps. But this is what a superintendent should be. The face of the district. The one who engages with the public and gets out in the field to see the work and challenges of his employees. This past spring he spent an entire 10 hour day with one of his bus drivers to get a feel for what they do every day (Walking in the Shoes of a School Bus Driver) and a couple months before that he spent a day with an elementary school Food Services Lead (Walking in the Shoes of our Food Services Staff)

How I wish we could get Dr. Baker to come to Seattle, but I expect that he's fully embedded in his community, as a Superintendent should be. Can't we find someone like this here in Seattle? Is it imposible in a city of our size to wish for something like this?
Anonymous said…
X, the likelihood that Dr. Baker or any other high quality superintendent currently employed here in Washington would come to SPS is very small or non-existent. How is it that you think we got Nyland out of retirement? No one else wanted it. The word among WASA --- the superintendents' association --- is that SPS is beyond dysfunctional.

Here are the contributing factors as I've understood them from actual superintendents: Poor history of retaining and supporting superintendents. Entrenched central office administration. History of in-fighting among the board. Typical undesirable challenges of managing a large, urban school district. And, finally, the fishbowl that is this district given this blog and Dora Taylor (and formerly Sue Peters') blog.

I expect Melissa, et al to cry foul on the last point. But if you think an influential blog with a constant refrain of complaints and malcontent has gotten around among potential candidates, you're living in denial. Sue Peters, as a former activist/blogger, sitting on this board only makes it worse.

--- aka
Anonymous said…
Meant "has not gotten around.."

--- aka
Anonymous said…
Well, as the old saying goes, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of being an SPS Superintendent. Let's face it. If the District was even half doing its job of adequate management of a very large resource, there would be no need for blogs like this or any other. And a successfully operating District takes so much more than just a successful Supe.

I think a worthwhile competent candidate would be more than willing to try and make the need for such outside communication strings obsolete. A competent leader would be doing exactly what Dr. Baker is doing - LEADING by example. Bellingham is a very different city in temperament than Seattle will ever be (lived there a long time), but the concept of good, string, mindful and communicative leadership does not change with an organization's size.

We can dream. Dreams don't have to be realistic.
reader47

reader47
Anonymous said…
ooops that should be "good STRONG and communicative leadership" -dang tiny keys

reader47
"Entrenched central office administration..." and I wait for a superintendent to come, look around and say, "nope, here's how it changes." You know, be a leader. Goodloe-Johnson did it somewhat but "my way or the highway" doesn't work most of the time.
Anonymous said…
Major difference between Ana Marie and Larry - Ana Marie has 27 years of service at the UW. She was instrumental in establishing Husky Promise which provides full tuition to low income students in our state. She has been a leader for the last couple of years speaking for equity and access for underrepresented students on campus. Students, faculty and staff on campus are almost unanimously happy that she was hired as president because she is exactly the type of leader we wish we had for superintendent- ethical, compassionate and smart - and one who believes in shared governance. She not only is putting $100K/year towards student support, she has a history of changes structures and systems to bring equity across campus.

So, I see Nyland and Ana Marie as almost polar opposites and am happy I get to work in a system where she is now president and she's worth the compensation in my mind.


~ UW Staff
GarfieldMom said…
I'm a UW alum and I too think she's worth her salary. I'd advocate for a raise for Larry Nyland if I thought he was worth it. He's not.
I agree; UW did the right thing and hired the best/right person. Ana Mari is invested in UW and knows it well. She worth every penny.

I'm still waiting for Nyland to put forth or say something original.

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