Just in time for Halloween, another excessive executive pay story was quietly released last week. Superintendent Tim Cuneo’s annual salary package is $270,400, a whopping 34% more than former superintendent Dianne Talarico’s in 2008! After numerous requests to look at superintendent salaries more closely, the L.A. County Office of Education separated the superintendent salary statistics from their Annual Salary Survey and published them in a separate report. The first page of this two-page document lists the Total Earned Salary and Stipends of the 47 Unified School District superintendents.
One entry that jumps off the page is the $38,000 Mr. Cuneo receives for housing. By comparison, only two other districts offer a housing allowance at $12,000 each. Even without the housing allowance, Mr. Cuneo would still have received a hefty 15% more than Mrs. Talarico. During the country’s worst financial crisis, these are dark and scary times for most families. But even in that environment, the Board still approved the second-from-the-top salary in L.A. County.
These figures raise a number of questions about the Board of Education’s decision making process (expenditure of very limited funds) and who gives them advice. How could the Board agree to this kind of lucrative salary package while most of the dialogue on compensation for everyone else focuses on the scare tactics of furloughs, layoffs, and cutting salary and health benefits? What message does a $3,200 monthly housing allowance send most of the district’s employees who live on a tight budget and can’t afford housing close to their work? Why has the Financial Oversight Committee’s response to the superintendent’s salary package and administrative costs been dead silence? And why is the truth so elusive in this district?
This horror story is far from over. Just wait and see. The Board, FOC, and Superintendent Cuneo are going to try every “trick” in order to pass an Emergency Parcel Tax next year. My response will be very clear: “No more treats without transparency!”
Jim Jaffe