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Superintendents' Super-Sized Salaries
Submitted by mlevin on Thu, 09/04/2008 - 12:52pm.
As hundreds of Texas school districts insist that they are broke and need to raise taxes, last week the Lake Travis ISD voted to give superintendent Rocky Kirk a $6,000 pay raise. This brings his base salary to $231,520, which does not include numerous benefits.

It is well out of proportion with other similarly sized districts. Superintendents of much larger districts make considerably less, such as Montgomery County ISD ($177,650), McAllen ISD ($184,000), and San Marcos ISD ($161,000). However, there are other examples of salaries that are out of line with similarly-sized districts.

Beaumont ISD Superintendent Carroll Thomas has a whopping base salary of $322,117, the second highest in the state. And remember these are base salaries - many superintendents receive not just health insurance and pensions, but also life insurance, car allowances, and health club memberships.

Worst of all, many times when a superintendent must be removed for poor performance, districts must pay hundreds of thousands for work that is never done because these contracts are multi-year. School districts need to look carefully at both the pay of their top administrators as well as the compensation and number of non-teaching staff working in their central office before they ask yet again for more taxpayer money.

The full Texas Education Agency list of Texas superintendent base salaries is online. And read the Austin American Statesman article about Rocky Kirk's payraise.

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These guys must be stopped. They have a staff that does all the work for them. The schools are top heavy. Too many Chiefs and not enough indians.]]> General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=30 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:59:20 -0500 http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=29 General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=29 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:44:37 -0500 http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=28
Should personnel involved in misspending be rewarded by being paid consultant fees past their termination date? Should newly retired persons who were involved be rehired for any reason for any length of time?

Should the Financial Officer (a CPA since 1982) in charge during all the misspending and lack of control keep his job at full salary (but with less duties) and get off without even a reprimand?

Should Criminal Charges be filed by CISD?

Should parents file a class action suit against CISD for misspending money meant to educate their kids and thereby depriving their kids of the proper education?
]]> General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=28 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:45:42 -0500 http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=27 This word is defined in the dictionary lookup on the Microsoft Works Word Processor as; Favortism shown to relatives.
Favortism shown by someone in power to relatives & friends, especially in appointing them to good positions.

Now then it is apparent to me that Brad Allen is not qualified to be on the CISD Board because of the word described. A person doesn’t necessarily have to be caught in the act but, be in a position to do so. A relitive of Mr. Allen does work for the school system which clinches Nepotism.

In working for the Federal Government it was a terrible no-no to have the situation as described above.
If Allen had to resign to allow a family member to be hired why then can he qualify to be in a position of power. ]]> General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=27 Mon, 12 May 2008 18:24:30 -0500 http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=21 Should the TEA report be made public? CISD is trying to withhold it.
Robert Damron was reassigned and is no longer Superintendent.
The School Board has tough decisions to make.
Is this the tip of the iceberg?]]> General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=21 Wed, 2 Apr 2008 12:38:59 -0500 http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=20 Speaking of Leo Berman… He’s stirring up a hornets’ nest of trouble by asking the Texas Attorney General if it’s legal for taxpayers to have to pay for the payroll deductions that fund a teacher union’s political action committee. While teacher dues to the Texas State Teacher Association are voluntary, taxpayers have no choice but to see their tax dollars used to facilitate political contributions.

(Yeah, yeah, I know: TSTA isn’t a union. Sure, and that water fowl waddling down the street quacking isn’t a duck.)

TSTA’s PAC has been a notorious supporter of left-wing causes, liberal candidates and anti-taxpayer efforts. That they use taxpayer resources to facilitate the funding is simply unconscionable.

Like all unions, TSTA relies on payroll deductions. They know that if teachers had to actually write a monthly check for their dues and political contributions, they would find better ways to spend the money. Payroll deductions let the union grab the cash before the teachers ever see it.
]]> General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=20 Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:48:53 -0500 http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=19
CISD apparently plans to withhold the report from the public as long as they can.]]> General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=19 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:19:52 -0500 http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=18 Gene


Dumas Superintendent: Don’t Trust Taxpayers [Your thoughts?]
While most Texans think its high-time for taxpayers to have a stronger say in tax levies, one school superintendent doesn’t trust the people who pay his salary.

Larry Appel, Dumas ISD superintendent, denounced voter approval for tax hikes, saying, "It is much harder to convince them to vote for a tax increase" since most voters don't "typically have kids in school."


But you see, Mr. Appel, it's their money. And you work for them. Remember?

Mr. Appel is like so many bureaucrats running Texas’ schools, ignoring the fact they are public servants in the business of educating kids. These tax-and-spenders view property owners as an ATM machine, with teachers and kids only a convenient excuse for spending.

Why shouldn’t voters get a voice on tax increases to fund school operations? When there is a bond measure for a particular road, most voters may not use that road but they get to vote on the tax increase. Same goes for jails, hospitals and the like – taxpayers who will never use the services still get to vote on them. Seems only just for those who’ll foot the bill get a chance to have a say on the price-tag.
But for bureaucrats like Larry Appel, the only legitimate sound emanating from taxpayers is of their cash flowing into the public coffers.

Bad Math Tax [What do you think?]
But Mr. Appel and his cronies are, apparently succeeding in producing a steady source of income for the state: Lottery revenues from the poorest neighborhoods.

Let’s be frank: State lotteries amount to little more than a tax on people with poor math skills. Does this mean the state has a perverse incentive to keep math skills low and lotto players high?

Remember being told that the Lottery would solve our education finance woes? Yep, that was a good one. Now the same band that gave us a state monopoly on games-of-chance want us to feel guilty that the poor and uneducated play the Lottery, and especially the high-dollar versions, at higher rates than more affluent and educated folks.

The Houston Chronicle this week couldn't bring itself to criticize the state's Lottery. In fact, they say that it’s “an affordable pastime for even the poorest Texan” to squander money on the $1-per-play tickets that have crummy chances of winning. Affordable? Really? When your kid doesn’t have health insurance, it’s acceptable? Apparently.

Where the newspaper gets its pages in a wad is the existence of $50 tickets. The paper claims a new study shows "the very poor are much more likely than the well-to-do to buy these scratch-offs."

According to the Chronicle, the Lottery "preys upon those least able to afford it." Yep, that's it; the Lottery forces people to play. And that bottle of $4 box of wine just jumped in the car along with a six-pack of Twinkies and a carton of smokes.

For Texas,
Michael Quinn Sullivan
]]> General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=18 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:01:00 -0600 http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=17
Think!]
Yes, your property taxes are high. Yes, your small business is facing overwhelming taxes. Yes, public education consumes a third of the state’s budget and nearly two-thirds of your property tax bill.

But the beast is hungry, and only your last penny will satisfy it. The education lobby is hinting at another round of lawsuits (paid for with your tax dollars) that would force more spending by the state… of your money. Neat trick, eh? As the election season gets underway, prepare for calls for "more state funding" to be a theme. Just be sure to ask, "What have you accomplished with the money you're already taking?" And then ask to see the proof.

Double The Languages, Double The Waste [Tell Us What You Think!]
Or in Spanish: Doble los idiomas, el doble de residuos
Maybe Italian? Il doppio lingue, il doppio dei rifiuti
French? Double les langues, soit le double du gaspillage
A neat trick is to be able to have demonstrably wasted money in the past, and then with a straight face propose wasting even more in the future on the very same thing. Such is the case in the Austin Independent School District.

Several years ago the district spent tax dollars on the latest fad: teaching in two languages. This means all kids would have all their classes one day in English, and then the next day in Spanish, with the goal of making all kids “bilingual.” Unfortunately, the program succeeded only making the kids dumber, and AISD scrapped the whole deal.

But like bell-bottom jeans and Mohawks, the fad is resurfacing. Apparently some 300 school districts around the country (don't be impressed; there are 1,035 in Texas alone) are giving this bad idea another whirl. According to the Austin American Statesman, its "gaining in popularity" with all the best money-wasting institutions.

Too bad "popular" isn't academically synonymous with "successful" or “effective.”

The executive director of bilingual education for Austin schools defended the program: "It becomes a situation where, if I'm a Spanish speaker, I can help my English speaking classmates as much as they can help me. There's more of an equality, and kids feel more empowered."

Ah, so this is about making the kids “feel more empowered.” Yep, that's much more important (and expensive) than, say, making them better educated.]]> General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=17 Fri, 4 Jan 2008 17:15:07 -0600 http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=16 What is a Patriot?
Patriotism dow not mean we are to blindly support our government no matter what it does. A few years ago, many bumper stickers read, "My Country, Right or Wrong!" This insinuated that we should agree with every policy and every action that America undertakes. But unfortunately that quote is taken out of context. The actual admonition was much different. What Carl Schurz actually said in his 1892 address to congress was: "Our country, right or wrong: When right to be kept right and when wrong to be put right!" - quoted from Miles Wesner, Baptist Minister, Tom, Oklahoma.]]> General http://cleburnepolitics.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=16 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:01:33 -0600