Who is worth how much?

The average salary of a professor teaching in the Los Rios Community College District is $79,970, according to a District report included in the 2009-10 adopted budget.

That figure is what accounts for California Community College professors being the highest paid in the nation, earning over $17,000 more than the national average, according to a 2007 report compiled by the Iowa State Educators Association.

“Based upon their education and their experience… they get placed on the salary schedule,” said Vice President of Administration Bob Allegre, referring to the wide range in teacher salaries at the college.

The lowest paid salary for a professor at ARC is $39,416, but a professor with a doctorate and 20 years of teaching experience has the potential to make a salary of just under six figures: $99,373. Add to that a few extra classes taught on “overload”, and professors are able to make well over $100,000.

Contrasted with administrative salaries, Allegre makes $153, 649 after over 20 years of service in district – almost double the average teacher salary, and well over twice the amount of a police sergeant with a comparable length of service.

A Los Rios police officer’s starting salary is $42,483 and tops out at $60,180, whereas a sergeant’s starting pay begins at $1,806 more per year than an officer, and ends at just $2,724 above an officer’s salary.

Contrast this with a Los Rios maintenance cabinetmaker, whose starting salary begins nearly $10,000 higher than an officer’s salary, and maxes out at $73,539.

“That’s unfair,” said Nate Grundmann, a first-semester ARC student with an undeclared major. “It seems wrong – maybe flip it,” he added, commenting that he felt a sergeant’s responsibility for the safety of 40,000 students seemed like more work than making cabinets.

Far above the police sergeant’s salary, or the cabinetmaker, the highest paid salary at American River College belongs to its president, David Viar.

“[The salary] signifies the added responsibility and expectation placed on the person who holds this position,” Viar said, regarding his top-salary position.

Contrasted with the college officials above President Viar in the district, his $195,987 salary is dwarfed by District Chancellor Brice Harris, who oversees the district’s four colleges.

District Chancellor Harris came to Los Rios in 1996, and is currently earning $277,999 a year, according to Susie Williams, a spokesperson for the district. His deputy chancellor, Jon Sharpe, is currently earning $229,460, and came to the district in 2002.

According to Allegre, the difference between administrative salaries and professor salaries is in part due to professors only working 164 days per year, whereas administrator obligations require them to work 244 days.

In light of the pay difference between the average professor and the top salary of a campus police sergeant, Philosophy Professor David Lopez commented that the difference in pay should be justified.

“I’m all for a just and equitable pay scale,” said Lopez. “It’s something to consider or reconsider whether they’re getting paid enough,” he said.