Saturday, August 27, 2011

School Superintendent Leads By Example

Here's an interesting story from California:

When a headline starts, "School Official Gives Himself a Hefty..." the next word is usually "Raise."
But in Fresno County, Calif., School Superintendent Larry Powell gave himself a hefty pay cut.

On Aug. 31, Powell will retire and then be hired back to fill the remainder of his four year term, reducing his now $250,000 annual salary to $31,020. The move will add over $800,000 to county schools over the next three years.

"My wife and I are very well compensated. We've been very blessed...I've been in this business for 41 and a half years and these are tight budget times in California for public schools," Powell said. "My wife and I thought, what can we do that might help change the dynamic in my particular area."

Powell, 63, said that over the last three years his county has lost $1,600 to $1,900 in funding per student. There are 195,000 students in Fresno County and 356 schools.
It made me realize that I don't recall Scott Walker, any of the legislators, or any other elected official taking the pinch that they are forcing upon their workers. In fact, some have even given themselves raises! Makes one wonder how bad the "crisis" really is.  And if they're not giving themselves raises and bonuses, their dishing money out to cronies and girlfriends.

Perhaps the next time the protesters hold a rally, instead of simply yelling "Shame!" we should start demanding that these buffoons share in the pain they've forced on the working class.

2 comments:

  1. Walker is worse than you think. When he was county exec. he imposed the furlough days on his administrative staff which may have lead some people to believe that they were sharing the pain, but that was after he had given them raises which made up for the income loss of the furlough days.

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  2. Yup. I've been telling people that for the last two years when Walker was doing that.

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