The president of Adams State College is deferring his own 11 percent raise until his employees can have salary increases too, according to a report by the Alamosa Valley Courier.
President David Svaldi received an "A" in his evaluation by the Adams State College Board of Trustees and his salary would have increased to $205,000. However Svaldi countered by telling the board that his employees have not had salary increases in four years due to budget cuts.
"That grade is shared by all who work with and for me," Svaldi told the board while declining the raise.
Adams State College is located in the rural San Luis Valley, and like other state institutions of higher education, has suffered the state's $62 million budget cuts. The school's board of trustees has also publicly endorsed State Senator Rollie Heath's (D-Boulder) Ballot Proposition 103 since Heath presented his proposition to them last Friday.
In a similar story in August, Fresno Superintendent Larry Powell offered to return $288,000 in annual salary and benefits for the next three-and-a-half years of his term to save the district from having to take money away from schools.
Flickr photo via Michael C. Rael.