School administrator salaries are still too high

Elk Grove Unified School District superintendent Steven Ladd . But he still makes $251,944 per year! The Superintendent of Schools in Los Angeles has taken a 17 percent pay cut. I, and the teachers like me, took almost a 10 percent cut and we are supposed to be happy that Dr. Ladd had a roll back in pay of 4.1 percent.

We have yet to hear about the rest of the cabinet, the Assistant Superintendents. We keep hearing that they are saving us money, because all these people are new at their jobs and further down on the pay scale. Yet this group of district administrators has had a raise approved for the next five years of 3.5 percent every year.

And the children of Elk Grove have five fewer days of instruction due to teacher furlough days!

Dr. Ladd did the right thing. The question I ask is, how can a raise of this kind get past the EGUSD School Board?  What kind of Board of Education approves a raise of this size at this time? In these times of layoffs and furloughs, pay cuts and district money woes, how can our elected board members look us in the eye while giving a raise to this group of people?

At this point, they can give me a lot of excuses, but the EGUSD Superintendent makes over $200,000 a year. His cabinet members each make six figures also. How can those salaries be justified when the money for school programs is so very tight?

I am sure you have all heard of Larry Powell, the Fresno County School Superintendent, by now. He has a contract with his district to work until 2015. Fresno retired him and now he will be working for the years remaining on his contract for $31,000 a year. What a leader! What commitment to education! His salary will be put back into the pot for school programs.

EGUSD School Board members decided to cut their pay for last year and for this year. They wanted to appear in sync with the employees of the district. What they didn't do was consider the backlash that the contracts with top administration would cause.

The School Board members are elected officials. It is their responsibility to safeguard the funds of EGUSD for the students of EGUSD. It is their responsibility to ensure that instructional time is restored to students before district administration gets a raise!

It's time to elect new School Board members. The people of Elk Grove deserve better management of their school district.