College of the Desert's Martha Garcia to take pay cut at new job

College of the Desert Superintendent/President Martha Garcia will take a nearly 15% pay cut when she leaves the school this summer to become the next president and chief executive officer of Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif.

Mt. SAC is a much larger community college than COD. It served more than 35,000 students during the fall 2022 term whereas COD served 11,000, according to data from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office.

Yet, Garcia will earn less money at her new job than her current one.

At COD, Garcia has a base salary of over $397,000, according to a contract extension approved in a 3-2 vote by the COD Board in November 2022.

At Mt. SAC, she will earn a base salary of $342,500, according to a contract agreement unanimously approved by that college’s board on Wednesday evening.

Garcia’s COD contract was set to expire in 2025 whereas her new one with Mt. SAC is through June 2026.

Despite being a mid-sized community college, COD has a history of paying outsized contracts to its top leaders.

Former COD Superintendent/President Joel Kinnamon earned over $410,000, according to his contract before he retired in 2021.

His total compensation, including salary and benefits, might have reached over $500,000 in 2019 and 2020, according to Transparent California, a database of pay and pensions for public employees.

According to records in that database, which might not be exhaustive, Kinnamon was the highest compensated community college superintendent/president in the state those years.

Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: College of the Desert Martha Garcia to take pay cut at new job