Florida’s University Chancellor Ray Rodrigues was already the highest-paid state employee with his more than $441K salary, beating out the No. 2 employee (Education Commissioner Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas) by roughly $110K.

But on Friday, that financial lead grew when the Board of Governors of the State University System approved a three-year contract extension including a $600,000 base salary with a chance at a 20% performance bonus. This makes Rodrigues the highest-paid state employee by far, according to the database of state employee salaries. The effective date is Jan. 1

He nearly doubles Kamoutsas’ $330K salary. But Kamoutsas was one of the biggest supporters of Rodrigues’ pay increase.

“When we talk about what a national model this state is in higher education and the envy of the country … I can’t emphasize enough how deserving he is,” Kamoutsas said during Friday’s Board of Governors meeting. “Not just of this pay increase, but honestly more.”

According to the contract amendment, raises in Rodrigues’ contract are paid from Board of Governors Foundation funds, which are considered private.

In July, as the state sets up its new university accrediting body, the BOG transferred $4 million in taxpayer money to the foundation — though that money is specifically appropriated for the accreditor and will not go to Rodrigues’ salary, a BOG spokesperson confirmed to the Phoenix.

The new contract expires in 2029 and provides a $75,000 annual housing stipend and $12,000 a car allowance.

Eric Silagy, former CEO of Florida Power & Light, was the lone BOG member to vote against the new contract — which he claimed was submitted to members at the 11th hour.

“I hear you loud and clear on the fact that taxpayers aren’t directly paying this increase, but it is coming through universities’ foundations,” he said, calling the increase “significant” and unprecedented for an employee staying in the same role. “And so, it is money that would otherwise be able to be spent for other things that would benefit students.”

Various university presidents make more than Rodrigues, but state law requires university president contracts to be paid by foundation funds once they exceed $200,000.

The contract defines Rodrigues’ responsibilities as ensuring “the efficient operations of the Board” and he “is authorized to enter into any contract necessary for the operation of the Board to employ all personnel and establish policies and procedure, incident to Board personnel and operations, and to submit and annual legislative budget request and any amendments thereto for the Board office to the Board for approval.”

Rodrigues “shall serve as the Board’s liaison for communications with university boards of trustees, university presidents and other university officers and employees, the Governors and the Governor’s staff, the Legislature and the Legislature’s staff, the media, other state entities, and the public.”

Rodrigues has served as university chancellor since 2022. He’s now paid a $441,252 salary, some $40,000 more than under his first contract. Rodrigues previously served 12 years in the Florida Legislature. As of Dec. 2021 — his most recently available financial disclosure form — his net worth was $313,213.

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Reporting by Liv Caputo and Jay Waagmeester. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who played baseball at Yale, employed a metaphor from his former sport in arguing for congressional term limits.

“You are never going to have a better hanging curveball politically in your career than term limits. I could be speaking at the Chamber of Commerce of Delray Beach. I could be speaking to the Elks Club, whatever. And I’ll talk about, you know, Florida, you know, we have a budget surplus. Yeah, we’ve cut taxes, we have this, this. And you know what? We need to term limit Congress. Yay, everyone starts going, and I’ve seen this for so many years. So like the polling’s great and I trust it, but I don’t even need that to know. I see how people respond to it. So I think you have an opportunity to really get behind an issue,” DeSantis said this week at the Term Limits Summit.

He also spoke of being a “recovering Congressman” and how he didn’t expect to be in the House of Representatives for long when he was there for nearly three terms between 2012 and 2018.

“Some of the people in this movement were like, don’t term limit yourself. And I’m like, why? They’re like, because you just, you want to, we want people that believe in term limits to be there and then do it. And so, but I knew I was going to be there long. I just, I was gonna go and and try to make a difference, but there’s no way I would have been able to do it for 30 years,” DeSantis said.

“I kind of knew the issues, but like the idea that you’re going to have any type of authority to be a committee chair, you got to be there for 20 years. You got to be there for 25,” he added, saying the structure blocks people with a “reformer” mindset rooted in “idealism” from working to “turn Washington upside down” and “exercise real power,” leading to “neutered” long-haulers in the House.

While there’s “turnover in seats that don’t matter,” DeSantis says leadership is entrenched and that term limits would allow career politicians to keep moving up.

“You have a congressman that just gets elected, you know six years later, you’re going to have an open seat and you’re going to have a chance,” he said.

A Democrat hoping to flip Florida’s 21st Congressional District is trumpeting endorsements from a former United States Secretary of Education and two sitting members of Congress.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Congressman Ro Khanna, and Congresswoman Annie Kuster are all on board with Pia Dandiya as she works to unseat Brian Mast.

Duncan, a Barack Obama appointee, notes that Dandiya is “a true leader shaped by her service as a teacher, principal, and policy maker” and “the only former school principal across the country running for Congress.”

“Pia has spent her career in public education fighting for students who are too often overlooked, and she brings a true understanding of what works to improve outcomes for schools and families,” Duncan adds.

Khanna, a California Democrat who is quickly getting a national reputation for new-school pragmatism, says Dandiya “understands what working families truly need: good jobs, affordable childcare, strong schools, and a chance to build a secure future.”

“With experience as a teacher, high school principal, and tech-innovation leader — and a deep commitment to defending Social Security, Medicare, and our rights — Pia will put people over politics and fight for economic freedom,” Khanna adds.

“Pia is uniquely positioned to serve this district, with deep roots in this community and impressive experience in DC as a White House Fellow. Pia has the right message for this moment, has created the change we want to see in communities, and the unique ability to connect with voters across different walks of life,” Kuster adds.

Dandiya, who managed Apple strategic initiatives in the Southeast before launching her campaign, has already raised more than $783,000 from more than 2,500 donors, including contributors from every city in Florida’s 21st Congressional District and from 48 states.

While Dandiya faces primary opposition, she is the only candidate to report six-figures worth of fundraising to date, and she is seeing meaningful support from inside and outside the state, as the latest endorsements suggest.

Mast is not among the GOP incumbents currently targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, but his district has been a battleground in the past. He first won office in 2016, flipping a district previously represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy.

Redistricting in 2022 made the district a safer Republican seat. Nearly 58% of voters in the district in November voted for Donald Trump for President, according to MCI Maps. Mast won 62% of the vote in his own re-election bid.