Packages for schools chiefs full of bonuses, lucrative retirement

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Packed with perks like gold-plated retirement plans, plush bonus packages and even cars and drivers, the compensation packages of school superintendents in the Washington area cut against the old notion of the underappreciated educator.

Montgomery County schools chief Jerry Weast has enjoyed a reported salary of about $240,000 since his start with the top-drawer district in 1999. A hidden benefit, however, gives him a 6 percent raise each year set aside in a retirement account. That would bring his total salary for the coming school year close to $400,000.

An additional perk adds $10,000 annually to his retirement. Yet another allows Weast to cash in 15 unused vacation days each year at a rate of nearly $1,800 per day.

Across the Potomac River in Fairfax County, the chief of the region’s largest district, Jack Dale, will make more than $292,000 this year as a base salary.

An additional $62,000, however, will go toward Dale’s retirement. And like Weast, Dale can cash in unused leave each year for an additional boost of about $20,000.

That is fair compensation for the long hours and daily criticism the superintendent endures, said Dale spokesman Paul Regnier.

“To do this kind of work, you’ve gotta like it, and you’ve gotta enjoy being a very public figure,” Regnier said, comparing the job of a superintendent to being mayor of a large city.

“Look at most school systems in Maryland and Virginia, and they’re the largest employer in the county, no question, with the most complex organization,” said Carl Smith, executive director of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education and a five-year superintendent in Delaware.

“I don’t begrudge them one penny that they earn, and I don’t make nearly what they make,” Smith added.

Smith also described a “generational gap in leadership,” saying the late 1970s and early 1980s saw declines in student enrollment, resulting in few teachers hired. Today, those teachers would have risen to administrative ranks. Their absence has caused a smaller pool of qualified candidates, forcing districts to offer grander incentives.

In beleaguered D.C. and Prince George’s County schools, one of those incentives comes as a chauffeur for schools chiefs Michelle Rhee and John Deasy.

“The superintendent makes multiple trips every day to schools and meetings and activities,” said Deasy spokesman John White, adding that the school district covers more ground than most in the region. “He’s an extremely accessible superintendent, and this allows him to conduct business along the way.”

Deasy pulled in a $273,000 salary in 2007, a nearly $17,000 performance bonus and a “supplemental annual benefit” of more than $24,000. Rhee’s base salary is $275,000. She got a 15 percent signing bonus when she took the job in 2007.

Still, some say it’s not excessive when compared with the expectations of parents and taxpayers.

“In some way, all of the wishes and desires and aspirations of society end up on the schoolhouse door,” Smith said. “I understand the sticker shock, but we need perspective.”

lfabel@dcexaminer.com

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