JACKSON - The state's faculty and staff will have to wait until August to find out if they will be getting a pay raise during the next fiscal year.
The state College Board did not include a 2-percent pay raise for faculty and staff in its $87.3 million budget proposal.
The board will take up the pay issue at its August meeting after considering a heftier raise, possibly spread over three years, said board member Ricki Garrett.
"I think the feeling today was, maybe, 2 percent wasn't enough," Garrett said.
In Mississippi last year, faculty salaries at the state's four-year universities were 82.6 percent of the national average, according to the Southern Regional Education Board.
Garrett said an incremental pay raise could be more palatable to legislators who must approve the board's budget request.
While the board has not agreed on a percentage, Garrett mentioned a 6-percent to 9-percent increase as a possibility.
The budget the College Board approved Thursday is nearly 15 percent higher than the current fiscal year's budget, without faculty and staff pay raises.
Garrett said she's aware that the state's budget remains tight, but she's encouraged by the Legislature's decision last year to fully fund education.
"It certainly helped this year to be funded first and to at least not sustain any additional cuts," Garrett said. "That gave us some stability."
The board on Thursday also postponed until August voting on a capital improvement project at Jackson State University to give its attorneys time to evaluate the contract.
Board President Thomas Colbert said that project, which includes a new university union and residence hall, is expected to be approved.
In other matters Thursday, the board suspended 10 academic programs, including two business school programs and majors in court reporting and theater at the University of Mississippi. The board also approved a decision by the University of Mississippi Medical Center to eliminate its Department of Diagnostic Sciences and five graduate programs.
"It is important that universities, being dynamic organizations, take a look at their programs," said Pam Smith, an assistant commissioner of higher education.
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