Fresno Schools Chief Gets 35 Percent Raise, Will Make $277,000. The Fresno Unified School District board voted January 9 to boost Superintendent Michael Hanson's salary by 35 percent, bringing his annual pay to $277,000 plus bonuses.
Unlike an earlier version of the proposal, the revised contract does not suggest that Mr. Hanson's pay raise will be retroactive (the initial version said the raise would be retroactive to his first day on the job). In addition to the pay raise, a contract addendum calls for Mr. Hanson to receive a bonus of $30,000 for every year he remains superintendent and receives a positive evaluation from the board, along with increased allowances for travel and district business expenses as well as payments for insurance and retirement. Mr. Hanson will be guaranteed a 3.5 percent raise each year, but trustees have the right to give him additional raises at any time.
The Fresno Bee reports that the board members waited until about 9 p.m., at the end of a lengthy agenda, to approve the salary hike on a 4-2 vote. The newspaper reported: "More than 60 people waited five hours for the pay raise discussion. Some voiced their support. Others, including some teachers, expressed their displeasure by interrupting trustee Janet Ryan as she led a presentation to justify Hanson's pay package."
Ms. Ryan said Mr. Harmon has improved test scores, built a healthy reserve and provided leadership to ensure that every student gets a quality education, and that before he arrived in 2005, the district suffered "a lack of vision and planning."
The vote was 4-2, but the two dissenters said they didn't oppose a raise, but had not had enough time to consider it, having received a revised addendum to Mr. Hanson's contract just six hours before the vote.
After the meeting, Mr. Hanson said he has no plans to leave Fresno Unified until he retires, and added, "I work for the kids of this district."
A teachers' union representative was unhappy with the massive raise. "This is a slap in the face," said teacher Greg Gadams, who was part of a bargaining team for the Fresno Teachers Association, which recently ended a 19-month labor disagreement with the district. Mr. Gadams said that during contract talks, district officials frequently said the district's financial future was uncertain because of potential cuts from the state.
The board also approved a proposal from Mr. Hanson to increase annual pay for the district's chief financial officer from $174,300 to $194,000.
(Cal-Tax: This is Exhibit A for why Californians, in poll after poll, say they want the government to solve its budget problems by making cuts and increasing efficiency, rather than by taking more money out of taxpayers' family budgets. It is difficult to justify giving a school administrator a jaw-dropping raise at the same time school officials are complaining that students are suffering because money is tight.) (Source: The Fresno Bee, January 10.)
Cal-Taxletter January 11, 2008
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