The University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors raised the salaries for 12 of the system’s chancellors during a closed session meeting Friday, giving pay raises of 8 to 19 percent to the top campus administrators.

The salary amounts were released publicly Monday, with the heads of the state’s two flagship campuses receiving $50,000 and $70,000 raises. (Scroll down to view the entire list of raises.)

Five chancellors, all but one who were hired in 2014 or 2015, received no pay increases. The head of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, the prestigious public high school run by the UNC system, received a pay increase as well.

System officials would not release the salary information Friday, despite objections from several reporters at the meeting that the changes should have been disclosed publicly at Friday’s meeting.

Mike Tadych, a lawyer who works on public record and open government issues for the N.C. Press Association and media companies, told WRAL Friday that the salary information should have been acted on in open session, and disclosed immediately.

“At the end of the day, their ultimate decision needs to be voted on in open session,” Tadych told WRAL, adding that N.C. public records law does not allow public bodies to withhold salary information.

NCSU Randy Woodson

N.C. State University Chancellor Randy Woodson received a $70,000 pay bump, according to the information released Monday. His base salary of $590,000 is now the highest in the UNC system, and a private foundation connected to the Raleigh university will chip in an additional $200,000 each year for Woodson.

Carol Folt, the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received a $50,000 pay increase, and will now make $570,000 a year.

Other substantial pay jumps include UNC-Charlotte Philip Dubois, who is now making $387,500 after a $63,050 raise; East Carolina University’s Steve Ballard, who will make $385,000 in base salary after a $62,400 raise and Western Carolina University Chancellor David Belcher, who will make $335,000 after a $54,500 raise.

The legislatively-appointed UNC Board of Governors indicated the raises approved during a closed-session vote were to align with a policy approved earlier this year to increase the ranges of chancellor and top administrator pay.

But staff and faculty in the UNC system have seen little changes in their paychecks since the start of the national recession, with only nominal raises approved in some years as the legislature has tightened the university system’s budget and mandated more than $500 million in cuts to campuses since 2010.

UNC employees, like all state employees, are slated to receive a $750 bonus this year.

It’s not clear if any on the 32-member board objected to the pay increases. N.C. Policy Watch has asked for more details about the vote taken Friday behind closed doors.

Chancellor Increases – BOG Approved Sheet1-1 by NC Policy Watch

North Carolina has a new president of its public university system, former U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.

Spellings, who was hired at a special meeting Friday of the University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors, will replace Tom Ross, who had led the 17-campus system since 2011 until he was ousted in January for reasons that critics of the board have attributed to politics.

Spellings’ total compensation comes close to $1 million a year, with a $775,000 base salary, $35,000 in moving costs, up to $77,500 in an executive retirement account, an unspecified car allowance, use of the UNC President’s house and a chance to earn a “performance-based compensation” bonus based on metrics to be determined by the Board of Governors, according to information about the five-year contract distributed Friday by the UNC system.

That’s a significant jump from the $600,000 base salary that Ross earned in his last year of service.

Margaret Spellings (Source: Bush Presidential Center)

Spellings’ selection was unanimously backed by the board of governors, but the compensation package had two dissenting votes from board members Marty Kotis, a Greensboro real estate businessman, and Thom Goolsby, a Republican Wilmington attorney who previously served in the state Senate.

The search process for the next leader of the UNC system revealed a fractured UNC Board of Governors, with some members calling for the resignation of Chairman John Fennebresque and a last-minute attempt by the state’s Republican-led legislature to require the presentation of multiple candidates.

Faculty also spoke out against the search process as well, after their requests to meet with candidates were rebuffed. A statement issued Thursday indicated that Spellings will face an uphill battle in earning the trust of professors as a result of the bungled search process.

“We have a president who is in a deficit potion as far as trust,” said Spoma Jovanovic, a UNC-Greensboro professor, adding that Spellings will need to work hard to overcome that.

David Green, an N.C. Central University professor, said faculty want to see if Spellings shows a commitment to nurturing the distinct offerings of each of the 17-campuses, and ensuring the UNC system is affordable and accessible to North Carolina residents of all backgrounds, races and income levels.

“This is why we come to work every single day,” Green said.

Spellings’ background

Spellings comes to the top job at UNC without much experience in education or familiarity with North Carolina, but a three-decade career steeped in the world of education policy and Republican politics. She worked in Texas for then-Gov. George W. Bush, and followed him to Washington where she was first his domestic policy advisor and then his education secretary. She leaves a job as the president of George W. Bush Presidential Center for the UNC job.

Spellings holds a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Houston, and holds no advanced degree.

She touched upon her political and policy experience in a brief press conference after Friday’s announcement, noting that she sees faculty as the experts in academia, and she’ll bring skills in navigating the political environment the university system faces.

“I have skills that are different from theirs. I’m not an academic. I’m not a teacher or a researcher. I’m someone who understands public policy-making. I understand advocacy. I understand how to bring people together around a shared mission, and I have a track record of doing that in my career,” she said.

Spellings also faced some tough questions at a press conference following her election to the presidency.

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