Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
The deal that ended Wright State University’s faculty union strike will allow the school to improve its finances in the coming years, an independent analysis released found.
The report, from Moody’s Investors Service, states that the agreement will “give WSU flexibility to achieve long-term savings.” The agreements to end the strike, which extend through June 2023, will save the university somewhere between $3 million and $4 million, president Cheryl Schrader has said.
Moody’s is a bond credit rating business that gives analysis on the financial health of companies or institutions.
Wright State has been trying to navigate its way out of a budget crisis for the last few years. The university reduced spending by around $53 million in fiscal year 2018 and WSU leaders were projecting further revenue declines this year.
By the Numbers
52: Days of cash on hand WSU had in 2018.
178: Days of cash on hand WSU had in 2011.
90: National standard for cash on hand.
$53 million: Amount WSU reduced spending by last year.
2.5: Percent AAUP-WSU will get in raises in 2022 and 2023.
The post-strike analysis from Moody’s was “comforting,” said Walt Branson, Wright State’s chief business officer.
“It’s easy for us to over interpret something good happening or maybe read too much into it,” Branson said. “But, this is a very objective third party that does this for their livelihood.”
The school’s new contract with the Wright State chapter of the American Association of University Professors will allow WSU to save money in at least three areas.
The AAUP-WSU’s 560 or so members will join a university-wide health care plan and summer pay for professors will be reduced by 15 percent to 20 percent, according to the two contracts. Wright State can furlough unionized faculty one day per semester.
