Deflating a bloated salary

Former Chancellor of Postsecondary Education Roy Johnson will leave an enduring legacy for the people of Alabama, but it’s not the sort of thing anyone would want to brag about.

In four short years at the helm of the state’s two-year college system, Johnson managed to embroil himself in a variety of corrupt activities, such as bribery, money laundering and numerous conspiracies. One has to wonder how he managed to find time to oversee the two-year school system.

When his house of cards folded in on him, Johnson pleaded guilty to 15 counts of corruption charges. He was scheduled for sentencing on July 1, but dispensation of his punishment has been delayed until November.

Johnson stole the trust of the people of Alabama, and that’s something state officials cannot easily retrieve. They can, however, reverse another of Johnson’s hat tricks.

The former chancellor managed to manipulate the state school board into pushing his salary into the stratosphere. In 2005, while the former chancellor was busy with his foul play, the board raised Johnson’s pay from $198,000 to almost $258,000 in two increases because it was concerned he might take another job.

Now the pay for the chancellor of two-year schools is closer to $300,000 per year — almost 20 percent higher than the average compensation and benefits for community college chancellors nationwide, and 50 percent more than the state school superintendent, who oversees Alabama’s K-12 system.

With Chancellor Bradley Byrne having resigned his post to run for governor, the state school board has a golden opportunity to redeem itself and take a step toward rebuilding public trust in the governance of the two-year system by reassessing the pay range for its chancellor post.