CAT Tracks for March 9, 2003 IT'S "LOVELY" AT THE TOP

The following article appeared in The Southern Illinoisan yesterday...

SUPERINTENDENTS' PENSIONS RISE

[Sat Mar 08 2003]

CHICAGO (AP) -- Nearly a quarter of Illinois' school superintendents saw their earnings rise 10 percent or more last year at the same time many teachers lost jobs or took pay cuts.

State figures examined by the Chicago Tribune show nearly 200 superintendents got raises of 10 percent or more last year and 65 got raises of 20 percent or more.

Many school boards traditionally give superintendents big raises in their final years to boost the executives' pensions.

Some educators say the raises are a way of attracting talent in a competitive job market. A key factor in determining pension benefits is an average of the highest four consecutive years of earnings in the final decade of service, so boosting pay in the last year before retirement means bigger retirement checks.

But while local residents pay for the salary increase, taxpayers statewide foot the bill for the pensions.

Highly paid superintendents could see their annual pensions increased by as much as $25,000, state pension officials said.

"It is the attitude of public employees that they are entitled to this bump. It's absurd, it's totally absurd," said Ron Gidwitz, chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education.

John Day, assistant executive director of the suburban and downstate Teachers' Retirement System, said that similar raises of 40 percent and 50 percent for administrators in the 1970s prompted a law limiting raises that would count for pension calculations to 20 percent.

School districts have been handing out the raises even as they struggle financially, the Tribune reported.

William Gerry Morgan, superintendent in Dolton, received a 20 percent raise last year despite a district budget deficit of $5.6 million and student test scores that dropped each year he was in charge.

Marvin Edwards, superintendent of District U-46 in Kane County before retiring in June, got two 20 percent raises in a row to bring his final salary to $289,041.

The district is in financial trouble and plans to lay off as many as 500 teachers.

The Tribune also reported that 40 superintendents who got raises oversaw both budget deficits and drops in student performance on state achievement test.

Michael Johnson, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Boards, said the raises are just a part of doing business when qualified superintendents are in short supply.

But Gidwitz said the practice ought to be stopped.

"We can't afford to do it the way it's always been done," he said.