SDP Collapsing Faster than Expected

[Dolemite]

People forget as it only comes up when the district moves to cut transportation but because of a court ruling,

based on a law I would presume, but educate me if it's just decided out of thin air.

[Lakey]

based on a law I would presume, but educate me if it's just decided out of thin air.

Correct. Though PA school districts generally do provide transportation, the PA School Code does not require school districts to do so with one explicit exception. School districts must provide transportation to any charter school located within a district's boundaries while a charter school is in "regular" session. IOW, they aren't required to provide transportation to district schools, but are required to provide transportation to charter schools located within a given district. Also, if a district provides transportation to traditional public / charter school students, it must then provide transportation to non-public school students. That requirement was added to the PA School Code in the mid 1970s.

[annie]

Phila. SRC approves $300,000 salary for Hite
This new more "transparent" SRC approved Hite's contract last night and then released the contract to the public.

A comparison of Hite's and Ackerman's salaries and benefits which weirdly misses the SDP $25K/month retirement contributions for Hite reported above with whatever the heck Ackerman was getting:
How Hite's contract compares to Ackerman's

I'm glad the criteria for his performance bonus is at least spelled out. Pretty sure the last SRC let Ackerman decide her own criteria and rate herself (Surprise! She thought she was doing pretty well).

[seand]

Pretty sure the last SRC let Ackerman decide her own criteria and rate herself (Surprise! She thought she was doing pretty well).

Sounds great. How do I convince my boss to go for that set-up?

[annie]

PSSA-cheating reforms yield lower scores across Pa.

After authorities imposed unprecedented security measures on the 2012 statewide exams, test scores tumbled across Pennsylvania, The Inquirer has learned.

At some schools, Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ronald Tomalis said, the drops are "noticeable" - 25 percent or more

[OldMama]

I shocked to read in that article that several principals have actually confessed to cheating. The article says they can't be prosecuted for past cheating but they can be from here on. I just want to see how many end up losing their certification. That has ALWAYS been a consequence of cheating and held over teachers' heads.

[Naveen]

Phila. SRC approves $300,000 salary for Hite
This new more "transparent" SRC approved Hite's contract last night and then released the contract to the public.

A comparison of Hite's and Ackerman's salaries and benefits which weirdly misses the SDP $25K/month retirement contributions for Hite reported above with whatever the heck Ackerman was getting:
How Hite's contract compares to Ackerman's

I'm glad the criteria for his performance bonus is at least spelled out. Pretty sure the last SRC let Ackerman decide her own criteria and rate herself (Surprise! She thought she was doing pretty well).

I suppose when you set the bar so low, this would be viewed as an improvement. But this contract is still far too generous IMO, especially considering the finances of the district. They want to raise our taxes to pay for the school district yet the superintendent will be paid considerably more than the mayor or police commissioner? Plus 5 weeks vacation, not to mention potential bonuses and money so he can hire a lawyer to negotiate for him?

I find it utterly sad that this is now considered par for the course when it comes to these kinds of positions.

[OffenseTaken]

I suppose when you set the bar so low, this would be viewed as an improvement. But this contract is still far too generous IMO, especially considering the finances of the district. They want to raise our taxes to pay for the school district yet the superintendent will be paid considerably more than the mayor or police commissioner? Plus 5 weeks vacation, not to mention potential bonuses and money so he can hire a lawyer to negotiate for him?

I find it utterly sad that this is now considered par for the course when it comes to these kinds of positions.

The Tredyffrin/Easttown superintendent makes $240k, and presides over a school district with 6,000 students. Hite will be making 25% more to preside over a district that is 26 times larger (and more than 26 times as dysfunctional, I'd say).

I mean, you could cap the salary at some arbitrarily low rate to save the district $50-100k a year, and just hope that the right candidate would still be interested in the job, but it just seems churlish for an institution with a $2.5bn budget, whether it's in the toilet or not.

[raider.adam]

I suppose when you set the bar so low, this would be viewed as an improvement. But this contract is still far too generous IMO, especially considering the finances of the district. They want to raise our taxes to pay for the school district yet the superintendent will be paid considerably more than the mayor or police commissioner? Plus 5 weeks vacation, not to mention potential bonuses and money so he can hire a lawyer to negotiate for him?

I find it utterly sad that this is now considered par for the course when it comes to these kinds of positions.

The Tredyffrin/Easttown superintendent makes $240k, and presides over a school district with 6,000 students. Hite will be making 25% more to preside over a district that is 26 times larger (and more than 26 times as dysfunctional, I'd say).

I mean, you could cap the salary at some arbitrarily low rate to save the district $50-100k a year, and just hope that the right candidate would still be interested in the job, but it just seems churlish for an institution with a $2.5bn budget, whether it's in the toilet or not.

Yeah, I am not so upset about the salary. As pointed out, it is running a major organization. I care more about results.

[seand]

PSSA-cheating reforms yield lower scores across Pa.

I shocked to read in that article that several principals have actually confessed to cheating. The article says they can't be prosecuted for past cheating but they can be from here on. I just want to see how many end up losing their certification. That has ALWAYS been a consequence of cheating and held over teachers' heads.

Agreed. Principals need to lose their jobs and certification for this to be taken seriously.

[billy ross]

Agreed. Principals need to lose their jobs and certification for this to be taken seriously.

I'd love to see some clawbacks from Ackerman, since the (bogus) rising test scores were her greatest justification for what she was doing.

[seand]

I'd love to see some clawbacks from Ackerman, since the (bogus) rising test scores were her greatest justification for what she was doing.

That would be a wonderful piece of legalese to insert into contracts for principals and administrators (and charter school CEO's) generally. You get caught officially sanctioning cheating and you have to refund some of your salary for the years the cheating took place. Kind of like how politicians lose their government retirement benefits when convicted of misapropriating public funds.

If I were Captain Picard, I'd say "Make it so."

[BarryG]

I'd love to see some clawbacks from Ackerman, since the (bogus) rising test scores were her greatest justification for what she was doing.

Well since she so... graciously... took a severance package less than she was legally owed, this seems unlike to come to pass.

[raider.adam]

That would be a wonderful piece of legalese to insert into contracts for principals and administrators (and charter school CEO's) generally. You get caught officially sanctioning cheating and you have to refund some of your salary for the years the cheating took place. Kind of like how politicians lose their government retirement benefits when convicted of misapropriating public funds.

If I were Captain Picard, I'd say "Make it so."

Well since she so... graciously... took a severance package less than she was legally owed, this seems unlike to come to pass.

I am going to guess there are a bunch of politicos that would be concerned about what she would say about closed door info that would come out if they went after her money.

[annie]

District official in charge of charter office is out

[raider.adam]

District official in charge of charter office is out

When costs are off by 300%, it was likely inevitable.

[annie]

Since they let Michael Masch cling on until this May and Lee Nunery is still at the SDP, I'm not so sure.

This probably had a little to do with it too: Amid charter growth and fraud charges, city leaders consider overhaul of District office | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

In May, the Philadelphia School Partnership submitted on behalf of the Great Schools Compact a $7 million grant proposal to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
That proposal, which officials now describe as a preliminary draft, included a plan to raise millions of philanthropic dollars to “reimagine” the charter office so that charters like it more:
"Because a revamped charter office must be adequately staffed if it is to effectively support charters and rebuild trust, we request that a portion of the collaboration grant, $800,000, go toward setup and staffing costs... We will leverage the [Gates] Foundation’s funding with local philanthropic funds on at least a 1-to-1 matching basis, and preferably a 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 basis."
An extended “Outcomes & Milestones” section of the proposal lists only one indicator on which the success of the proposed charter office overhaul would be directly evaluated:
"Significant improvement in charters’ perceptions of charter office, as evidenced on charter-operator surveys."

[Naveen]

The Tredyffrin/Easttown superintendent makes $240k, and presides over a school district with 6,000 students. Hite will be making 25% more to preside over a district that is 26 times larger (and more than 26 times as dysfunctional, I'd say).

I mean, you could cap the salary at some arbitrarily low rate to save the district $50-100k a year, and just hope that the right candidate would still be interested in the job, but it just seems churlish for an institution with a $2.5bn budget, whether it's in the toilet or not.

Yeah but comparing this salary to other bloated salaries shouldn't be where we start from. We shouldn't create an unreasonably low standard, but looking at the size of a budget shouldn't be how we determine salaries. The U.S. Secretary of Defense makes $199K and has a bit more than $2.5bn to manage.

Yeah, I am not so upset about the salary. As pointed out, it is running a major organization. I care more about results.

Paying these guys like we have hasn't produced very good results so far. Why don't we start with a low salary and give them large bonuses for results, instead of starting high and giving them modest bonuses for mediocre results?

[OffenseTaken]

Yeah but comparing this salary to other bloated salaries shouldn't be where we start from. We shouldn't create an unreasonably low standard, but looking at the size of a budget shouldn't be how we determine salaries. The U.S. Secretary of Defense makes $199K and has a bit more than $2.5bn to manage.

You're right, but I think you're addressing a much wider issue than the salary Hite's bringing in: namely, whether public service should be a means to getting rich, and whether enriching public servants really is necessary for attracting talented individuals to the job. This is a frequent bone of contention in the legal field, thanks to the growing gap between judges' salaries and those of their peers still in private practice. Richard Posner wrote a piece about it not long ago (Judicial Salaries--Posner - The Becker-Posner Blog), which your argument about superintendent salaries reminded me of.

[Naveen]

You're right, but I think you're addressing a much wider issue than the salary Hite's bringing in: namely, whether public service should be a means to getting rich, and whether enriching public servants really is necessary for attracting talented individuals to the job. This is a frequent bone of contention in the legal field, thanks to the growing gap between judges' salaries and those of their peers still in private practice. Richard Posner wrote a piece about it not long ago (Judicial Salaries--Posner - The Becker-Posner Blog), which your argument about superintendent salaries reminded me of.

Yeah, that really is what I'm getting at.

That post was incredibly hard to read because of the lack of formatting (not your fault, obviously), so I had to skim a bit. But the basic conclusion -- that a lawyer making $1 million a year isn't going to walk away from that to be a judge because a judge's salary was increased from $175K to $250K -- is I think correct.

I agree we shouldn't be overly stingy -- people should get paid appropriately for what they do. But to tie government salaries to both their importance and budgetary responsibilities in a way that is commensurate with the private sector would bankrupt us all (especially for the more senior positions).

And really, do we want public servants whose #1 criteria in accepting a position is how much they can make from it? I think if that's the kind of people we're trying to recruit, we're setting ourselves up for some serious problems down the road. Let those people go into finance. They already cause enough problems there.