Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education no doubt has talented presidents in charge of its 14 schools, including Slippery Rock University President Robert Smith.

But neither Smith nor any of the other presidents who received one-time cash bonuses of $1,250 recently out of taxpayer funds should have gotten those bonuses. The presidents already are paid generous salaries from the commonwealth system and are expected to do a good job.

That they've done the job they are being paid to do should not place a financial responsibility — or burden — on the taxpayers beyond the salaries that they fund.

In Smith's case, the SRU president, like most of the other state system university presidents, received a merit pay increase for the current year.

Smith was given a 2.9 percent pay increase for the 2007-08 fiscal year, bringing his salary to $200,292.

State system officials say raises for the 2007-08 fiscal year range from less than 1 percent to 3 percent for the system presidents who were on board last July 1. Presidents of three of the 14 universities were hired after July 1 and weren't eligible for the merit raises.

Kenn Marshall, state system spokesman, said the bonuses won't be counted as part of their base salaries next year, so the bonuses won't impact the taxpayers beyond this year. Regardless, there should not have been any bonuses paid.

As for the raises, Marshall said the increases are based on performance in a number of categories, including graduation retention rates and fiscal management.

"Student achievement and success are two of the more important factors we look at," Marshall said.

SRU's Smith, placing near the top in terms of raise percentage received, apparently is highly regarded by system officials for the job he is doing, and meeting system goals.

However, system officials should be guarding the best interests of the taxpayers and that demands paying out no more money than necessary.

While the merit increases were within a reasonable range, the bonuses, although not huge, were nonetheless wrong.

System officials should not make the same mistake in the future.