Does it really cost this much to get a university leader in Texas?

Robert Pratt photo Copyright Pratt on Texas

Robert Pratt

“Two of the three highest-paid public university leaders are from Texas,” reports the Texas Tribune pointing out that “University of Texas System Chancellor Bill McRaven and Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp earned $1.5 million and $1.3 million, respectively.”

Not bad gigs for a former Democrat politician and a liberal military man. But the list goes on, “University of Houston System Chancellor Renu Khator, who made $851,000, ranked 14th this year — down from the very top spot last year,” the Tribune reported.

Texas Tech system’s chief Robert Duncan, a former state senator, is pulling down near seven hundred thousand dollars per year in salary alone. A&M’s president is pulling in a cool million per year, that’s the president not the chancellor, a former Democrat state comptroller, who is taking in three hundred grand more.

Former state senator Brian McCall is running the Texas State system with a salary of about seven hundred and thirty grand per year. The just retired president of the questionable-in-quality Texas Southern University was pulling in more than six hundred thousand per year in salary. And on top of these salaries are huge benefits and perks for most.

Justification is often given that these folk manage huge enterprises and budgets over a billion dollars in some cases. They do not, paid professional staff manage those things.

Chancellors especially are political money-men paid to access public money and have the Legislature take decisions perceived as good for their institutions.

When it comes to leading our taxpayer owned schools the real question is: How many of these people would take the job for a lot less? I bet most of them would, or even more talented people would.

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