An update on Budget Transformation and one of the key efforts it supports: Compensation Study implementation

Dear colleagues,

It’s difficult to believe that around this time last fall, the university was just beginning its Budget Transformation journey — a journey rooted in rich collaboration, deep discussion and critical analysis, all driven by a strategic, future-focused approach.

The collaboration of more than 70 individuals across the institution — members of our Phase I planning teams, current budget governance teams, and sub-committees, as well as the many budget fiscal officers who have supported implementation — ultimately led to the development and implementation of our FY 2027 budget framework, which is where we left off with our last update to the university community.

Accomplishments

With FY 2026 now officially closed and FY 2027 implementation in full swing, we want to recognize what this institution has accomplished together in year one of Budget Transformation:

• We have built a framework for systematically investing in workforce compensation. By funding the upcoming one-time performance-based merit bonuses and investing in targeted faculty salary enhancements, professorial performance awards, and faculty start-up commitments, we have taken critical steps forward in our compensation efforts. Additionally, our Budget Transformation efforts have allowed us to reserve the necessary funding to implement the first phase of our Compensation Study under-market adjustments — more information on that in a moment.
• We have re-invested in strategic priorities. We have established a framework for base-budget college performance funding and invested in enrollment management, student recruitment and student-athlete scholarships. Additionally, we have invested in operational efficiency through the in-progress Next-Gen Procurement Initiative and have leveraged key investments in our research infrastructure.
• We have changed how we work. As we noted above, the Budget Transformation initiative has driven significant collaborative discussion across our academic colleges and administrative units, anchored by the work of our budget governance teams and further supported by ongoing conversations with university governance bodies.
• We have built a stronger understanding of K-State. The collaboration and transparency that this initiative has fostered have together yielded a broader understanding of how the university operates — better positioning us to collectively test new approaches and bring positive change to longstanding, legacy practices.

What’s next for Budget Transformation

Beginning this month, the Advisory Budget Committee will resume meetings, with several key goals driving the committee's efforts:

• Finalizing any outstanding FY 2027 implementation efforts, including reviewing where we ultimately landed relative to our year one projections and recommending adjustments to our budgetary levers to address shortfalls.
• Beginning the planning for FY 2028 implementation, driving lever optimization recommendations.
• Working in collaboration with our deans to develop each college’s specific 90/10 base budget performance pool metric for implementation in FY 2028.

Updates on Budget Transformation progress will continue to be communicated to the university community throughout the fall semester.

Compensation Study implementation

As we shared above, our Budget Transformation efforts have secured the funding to support under-market adjustments by the end of this calendar year, which will represent the culmination of the first phase of the university’s Compensation Study implementation, led by Chief Human Resources Officer Shanna Legleiter and the HR team. Please note that the recording of last spring’s Faculty Senate Open Forum is available for a refresher on the overall Compensation Study initiative.

• As a reminder, phase one of the implementation focuses on aligning positions with the market.
• Phases two and three will consider compensable factors, or the attributes that an individual employee brings to the job, such as their unique skills, experience and how they perform the work. This is when individuals may see their compensation optimized within their assigned pay range.

All of that said, phase one of implementation is truly about much more than the under-market adjustments alone — it is setting the fundamental foundation for our faculty pay structure based on rank, title and disciplines, as well as the updated staff career architecture.

As phase one of implementation moves forward this fall, here is what you can expect:

• In October, employees will get their first look at the university’s comprehensive faculty pay structure and updated staff career architecture online. This provides an opportunity to see and understand those respective structures before individualized information is shared.
• While faculty and staff are exploring these structures, HR will run market analyses to determine how current employee salaries compare with current market ranges. The results of this analysis will first be shared with the vice presidents and the deans.
• In November, department heads, supervisors, and ultimately, individual employees, will learn how their role maps to the new structures, as well as whether the market analysis will or will not necessitate an under-market adjustment for their position.
  • As a reminder, no pay reductions will result from the Compensation Study.
• In December, we anticipate the new structures will officially go live across our enterprise systems — namely, HRIS — and under-market adjustments will be implemented by the end of the calendar year.

The HR team will leverage key implementation working groups, training opportunities and consistent communication with university leadership, governance groups and others throughout this journey.

Additionally, the HR team is continuing its efforts to finalize a project timeline for impacting GTA/GRA support, which is part of the scope of the Compensation Study. More to be shared on that at a future date.

Transformation in action

Transformative work like that of our budget efforts and Compensation Study takes impeccable planning, rich collaboration and time to enact our new future state. We want to thank all who are contributing to these efforts, both those leading the charge and those operationalizing the resulting changes.

No matter how you are contributing to this process, you are part of an institutional transformation that proves what it takes to be a Next-Gen Land-Grant university.

Go 'Cats!

Jesse Perez Mendez
Provost and executive vice president

Ethan Erickson
Vice president for administration and finance