University System of Georgia requiring staff pay cuts, furloughs due to effect of COVID-19
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents has authorized its 26 institutions to require faculty and staff to be furloughed or receive pay cuts due to lost revenue from the coronavirus pandemic.
The decision was made during the board’s called meeting Thursday, conducted via teleconference because of COVID-19 guidelines.
State budget officials have mandated all state agencies to submit budgets for fiscal year 2021, starting July 1, that include a 14% reduction in spending from this year. Gov. Brian Kemp’s office announced Wednesday that April tax revenue was 35.9% less than the same month last year.
The board is requiring faculty and staff at each of the system’s colleges and universities as well as the system’s office to take a minimum number of days of unpaid time off, depending on their salary range, with the exception of those with “the lowest base salaries.” That threshold isn’t defined in the news release.
“For most employees, this means either four furlough days or eight furlough days, depending on their salary,” the news release says. “Those with the highest base salaries will be required to take 16 furlough days, or the equivalent of a 6.2% pay reduction.”
The chancellor and all campus presidents will take the equivalent of a 10% pay reduction, which includes 26 furlough days for fiscal year 2021.
“Any action related to staffing reductions and furloughs will be based on the final budget appropriation to be approved in June,” USG’s news release says. “. . . While this may include difficult decisions, the system’s top priority continues to be helping students complete a college education.”
The news release also notes that the system’s institutions and office might “need to adjust staffing levels to meet operational needs and address the immediate impact of revenue and funding losses. These plans, including the number of impacted employees, will be unique to each institution.”
It’s unclear how Columbus State University will make these cuts. CSU university relations director Greg Hudgison declined to comment Thursday.
In an emailed interview Thursday with the Ledger-Enquirer, CSU Faculty Senate executive officer Clint Barineau put these pending state cuts in local perspective.
“To complicate matters at CSU, enrollment declines over the past few years had already begun to impact our budget, and some departments and programs have already lost faculty positions to those cuts even before COVID-19 triggered the 14% budget reductions announced by the USG,” he said.
Barineau said most of the professors he has spoken with “prefer widely-shared furlough days to significant staff and faculty layoffs, and I’m glad to see that the furloughs proposed by our USG leadership are sensitive to the fact that those earning top salaries are better able to absorb salary cuts than staff and faculty earning significantly less. I hope that as President (Chris) Markwood and CSU leadership work through the specifics of budget reductions here, they adopt a similar approach.”
Asked how he thinks the cuts will affect the level of education students receive, Barineau said “there is no doubt” it will have a negative impact.
“From a faculty perspective, our primary focus is on making sure that we can continue providing a stellar education to our students,” he said. “Most faculty at CSU work 50-60 hours or more per week to meet the needs of our students and profession, as well as provide essential service to the institution. A 14% budget reduction will undoubtedly require everyone to do more work with fewer resources at a time when many faculty and staff already feel pushed to their utmost limits.”
Institutions have been providing remote instruction since mid-March, when campuses shut down.
“USG will continue to monitor the financial impact of COVID-19 and adjust as circumstances require,” the news release said. “The system also continues to implement cost-cutting measures. These include a Comprehensive Administrative Review that will reduce administrative costs systemwide by more than $100 million and a critical hire process that was implemented in December 2019.
“While remote instruction will continue through summer, on-campus classes are tentatively expected to restart in the fall. A final decision will be based on guidance from the Georgia Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 11:59 AM.
