Yavapai Community College Governing Board gives President Lisa Rhine authority to rework salary scheme adopted in October that included the “gainshare” theory
Governing Board discussing faculty and staff salary increases November 16
[BLOG EXCLUSIVE] The Yavapai Community College Governing Board agreed with a proposal put before it at the October 2021 Board meeting by the College Administration that distributed a portion of the next faculty/staff wage increase based in part on a concept that would have an assessment of whether groups obtained certain objectives. When the College faculty received word of the Board action, the Faculty Association, which represents all the faculty, filed a grievance challenging the group achievement portion of the recommendation — at least that is what it appears from the discussion at the November 16 meeting of the District Governing Board.
The October Governing Board salary recommendation for the 2022-23 academic year included a faculty and staff 2% across the board increase, a 5% across the board increase in benefits, and an additional 2% to be awarded on the basis of various groups achieving certain performance targets. The Administration called the portion of the salary increase based on group performance “gainshare.” The details of “gainshare” were to be presented to the Board by the Administration at the Board’s February 2022 workshop.
The faculty grievance document filed with Vice President Dr. Diane Ryan was not presented to the Governing Board at the November 16 meeting so the precise details of the grievance are unknown. However, Dr. Lisa Rhine made it clear to the Governing Board that the faculty would not agree to the “gainshare” portion involved in making faculty salary increases.
It should be noted that in October Board Representative Mitch Padilla had already asked the College to present comparative data regarding the use of the gainshare model at the February 2022 Board workshop. It should also be noted that a final decision on faculty increases is not made until May or June of 2022 when the Board finally votes on a full budget.
Dr. Rhine did not present an alternative faculty salary proposal to the Board at the November 16 meeting.
The overall discussion on the issue was not very clear at the November 16 meeting and the audio of that meeting is challenging. Some Board members (Chevalier and Kuknyo) appeared to favor continuing to include some portion of a faculty wage increase based on the experimental “gainshare” concept. Representative Sigafoos indicated he wanted to wait and see a concrete proposal before him on a future wage increase, if there were a suggested change from October, before making a final decision. Mitch Padilla had already indicated in October that he wanted more information about gainshare. Chair McCasland seemed somewhat unclear on her position although she reiterated her strong support of Dr. Rhine.
In the end, the Board voted to give Dr. Rhine full authority to rework the salary proposal and if necessary, bring a new salary proposal to the Board for its consideration. The Board also agreed to quickly meet to consider any future change to the salary recommendation made in October or to review a grievance should one reach the Board.
You may view a clip from the Community College’s stream of November 16 discussion regarding the salary increase by clicking on this link.
You may view a clip from the October 2021 discussion regarding the salary increase and an explanation of how gainshare works by clicking on this link.