$126,000 Is Too Much for School Chief

Gov. Pete Wilson in his infinite wisdom is recommending massive cuts to the education budget. The debate over Proposition 98 and minimum school district funding is heating up. The Capistrano Unified school board sends notices to many of its teachers informing them that they may be terminated in order to save money.

And yet the same school board agrees to pay its new superintendent more than $126,000 in salary and benefits (“Superintendent to Be One of Highest Paid,” March 21). Maybe it’s me, but I find this appalling and unexplainable.

As the parent of an elementary school student, I have seen the dedication and effort put out by our teachers. If there is a problem with public education, it is certainly not with the quality or competence of the teaching staff. I have no doubt that the bulk of the district’s teachers are worth substantially more than they would be being paid if they were working in the private sector.

I can only assume that the board has chosen a superintendent who is similarly well qualified and, had he chosen another career path, capable of earning at least that much in private industry. But still, I cannot understand how we can expect our teachers to work for less, and then use an analogy to private industry to justify a hefty superintendent’s salary.

I am also at a loss to understand why a superintendent needs an expense account at all. An attorney, a salesman, a CPA and many other jobs require expense accounts to reimburse the individual employee for costs he incurs while he advances his employer’s business enterprise. But a school superintendent? Is he going to go out and drum up business?

Of course, the district should pay for the cost of the superintendent attending seminars and such, but a $300-per-month expense account, on top of a $500-per-month automobile allowance, in addition to the $117,000 base salary, simply cannot be reconciled with the present economy and the realities of funding public education.

BARBARA J. MANDELL, Laguna Niguel