At its March 18 meeting, Classified Senate held a lengthy discussion about the BPC's March 12 proposal to implement a 1 percent employee raise pool instead of the 2 percent raise pool it proposed earlier in the budget process. BPC said the reduced raise pool would provide $1.6 million in savings that could be used for instructional resources (Group II, III and IV faculty jobs) and need-based student scholarships.

After the discussion, Classified Senate came to a collective decision to recommend a 2 percent increase for the following reasons:

• The savings realized from the 1 percent raise pool would not be used to protect classified employee jobs
• Out-of-pocket healthcare costs have continually increased with higher deductibles, co-insurance and co-pays
• Classified employee pay rate increases have not kept pace with the inflation rate over the past five years (9 percent compared to 12.03 percent, respectively)
• Classified employee workloads have steadily increased because of the abolishment of classified and administrative positions
• Rising stress levels have resulted in personal health issues for classified employees
• A decrease in classified employee morale has led to distrust in the university administration 

"We were very disappointed to learn that Budget Planning Council's proposal recommending a 1 percent pay increase instead of 2 percent, did not include saving classified jobs," said Classified Senate Chair Tammy Jordan. "Staff members continue to take on additional duties as a result of job abolishments, yet our pay continues to decrease."

President Roderick J. McDavis will share his budget recommendations with the campus community on Monday. The next board of trustees meeting is April 16.