The Center Square Daily | May 14, 2026 | Tax-Exempt, Elite University Presidents' Pay Topping $1M

Private nonprofit universities pay leaders millions of dollars, Louisiana students surpass pre-pandemic levels in reading and math, and a bill to protect the elderly from fraud languishes in Illinois legislature. Top private nonprofit universities that receive government funding pay some of their top leaders millions of dollars and one even received a $20 million longevity bonus, an investigation by The Center Square found. That is despite political leaders and others questioning the way the schools are funded and their political policies. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status of the country's elite private universities, most recently alleging that some harbor "radical left" policies and stoke antisemitism. Others have long questioned the fairness of federal policies that allow the schools to skirt tax liabilities while they amass tens of billions of dollars in assets, develop patented technologies with government support that are worth hundreds of millions and pay their leaders handsomely. Louisiana officials on Wednesday touted the state’s continued rise in national education rankings, after a new scorecard placed Louisiana first in reading growth and second in math growth. The report, produced by researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth, found Louisiana was the only state where average student performance has surpassed 2019 pre-pandemic levels in both reading and math. State officials credited literacy and math reforms, tutoring, school improvement efforts, high-quality instructional materials and a new statewide student attendance strategy. Gov. Jeff Landry also pointed to a return “back to the basics” and removal of “woke, DEI material” from curriculum.  Plus America's Talking with headlines from across the country:   Illinois: Bill to prevent fraud on elderly, disabled opposed by financial institutions  Arizona: Mexican national sentenced in major Middle East-Mexico-Arizona smuggling scheme  North Carolina: Cooper gets $31.4M share of $111.2M spend  Ohio: Proposal would force agencies to ‘start over’ with budget every decade  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.