Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and her husband will each teach two classes at the University of California-Berkeley in 2011 as part of a combined $300,000 deal, according to documents released by the school in response to a Michigan Capitol Confidential freedom of information request.

In an Aug. 12 letter sent to Granholm and her husband Dan Mulhern announcing the appointments, Berkeley Law School Dean Christopher Edley Jr. wrote: “We propose that each of you teach two courses or seminars per year, and have active affiliations with one or more policy research centers.”

Edley added: “In addition, University policies will permit you to devote substantial time to outside consulting or other compensated activity, as well as your summers.”

California, like Michigan, has for many years been facing persistent gaps between what politicians wish to spend and the tax revenue coming in to the state. Gov. Jerry Brown and the state’s politicians are currently attempting to resolve an estimated gap of $25.4 billion.

Granholm and Mulhern will have more going on than just teaching courses. They have also joined the Keppler Speakers Bureau in Washington, D.C., according to Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd. And they are writing a book on Granholm’s experience as the Michigan governor. Granholm will be a regular contributor to NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The appointments could be renewed for two years at any time in 2011, the letter said.

The average annual salary for a full professor at California-Berkeley was $146,000, according to a 2009-10 survey done by the American Association of University Professors.  

Boyd wrote Wednesday in an e-mail that Granholm and Mulhern “will be working with university officials to finalize their teaching schedules.”

Carole Polan, another spokeswoman for Granholm, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the only information she could provide was a link to the announcement made by Cal-Berkeley.

According to a Berkeley news release, Granholm will teach about state budgets, clean energy jobs and diversifying the economy at the Goldman School of Public Policy this spring. The spring semester begins April 4. In the fall, she will add a course on state budgeting and governing in times of fiscal crisis.

Mulhern won’t start teaching until late September of this year. He’ll teach a course in leadership at the Haas School of Business and a course on gender, work and leadership offered jointly by the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Berkeley Law School.

Granholm and Mulhern’s appointments happened during tough budgetary times for the school. The Associated Press reports that Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced on Jan. 14 that the University of California-Berkeley would lay off about 150 employees this year. None of those laid off would be faculty.

At Berkeley, the fall semester runs from mid-August to mid-December and the spring semester goes from mid-January to mid-May.

Under the Comstock Public Schools teachers union contract, the average teacher salary was $55,826 in 2009, 3rd highest in Eaton County. In addition, the district provides health benefits costing $14,724  for the most commonly selected plan, which is 42 percent more costly than insurance provided to the average private sector worker in Michigan. Teachers contribute 2 percent toward their coverage,  compared to a 20 percent average contribution required from private sector workers in Michigan.

Many Lake Orion teachers collect substantially more than the average salary – as much as $64,362 for those at the top end who have accumulated additional pedagogy credentials and have more than five years on the job. The minimum salary was $48,864 for those meeting these criteria, which are the only criteria for setting teacher pay, since student performance is not considered.

Employees covered under the union contract receive automatic “step” pay hikes of 6 to 9 percent for each additional year on the job until they “top out” on the salary schedule, and the entire salary schedule also grows by 1 percent each year on top of this. Teachers also get “longevity payments” worth between $1,500 and $4,500 annually starting with their 18th year on the job.

Coaching and accepting duties in more than 100 extracurricular programs draws additonal amounts ranging from $330 to $7,354 annually. Also, 28 different department chairpersons receive an extra $325 annually. Teachers who announce their retirement before March 1 collect another $2,000.

In addition to the health coverage described above, the district provides dental, vision, long-term disability and life insurance. Employees who opt-out of the regular insurance because they’re covered under a spouse’s plan still get these additional benefits, plus an additional “cash-in-lieu-of” payment that was $6,000 in 2009.

Based on the current state-run teacher pension system, a Comstock teacher retiring after 30 years will get a $28,963 annual pension (based on the final “step” on the salary schedule), which they can begin collecting from their early 50s on. For many teachers, this amount increases by 3 percent each year. Retired teachers also get subsidized health insurance.

Eaton Rapids schools collected $10,415 per student in property tax levies, state and federal grants in 2008-2009, of which around 70 percent was paid out to employees covered by the union contract described here.