Ed Board Wrestles With Role, Pay For Ex-Presidents

The pressures of being a university president often push the chief executive to step down before retirement.

The state Board of Education is considering what to do with the administrators when they call it quits. Some have been away from the classroom so long it is a difficult transition back to teaching.

The administrator also might not be popular with professors after being their boss. A state exiting policy would offer guidelines on how to “retool” presidents or allow them to depart with ease.

“I’m wondering if we could afford all the retooling it might take,” board member Roy Mosman said Friday at the regents’ meeting in Pocatello.

Some board members balk at giving them a cushy landing once they have lost their managerial drive.

University of Idaho Faculty Council Chairman Bill Voxman cautioned that the subject is very sensitive for teachers, due to a lack of pay raises.

While Voxman agreed with one president that executives have earned their spurs, he added, “they’ve also been paid for those spurs.”

The board earlier decided to study the issue on the advice of departing board Executive Director Rayburn Barton. He said they should consider giving presidents, vice presidents and deans who go back to teaching a salary at about 75 percent of their current pay.

An exiting policy could be a good recruiting item for a state that lags behind in administrative salaries, University of Idaho President Robert Hoover said.

Without a guideline, a burned-out leader might stay in the job, added ISU President Richard Bowen.