I’m Just Sayin’:

The feedback I received from my column last week about the contract dispute between Glendale Unified School District and the teachers union has been interesting, but not surprising (“Teacher-district animosity serves no one”).

I’ve heard from both the president of the school board and a representative of the teachers union. I’m sure they want me to fully understand their positions, and I think I’m fairly well informed, given that I have not been privy to the negotiations.

There is one large issue that I did not have the space to address last week, and that is outgoing Supt. Michael Escalante’s salary. He makes roughly $297,000, a more-than-58% increase from his starting salary of $174,000 when he became superintendent in 2004.

That is more than the $250,000 that Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Ramon Cortines is paid, even though Glendale Unified has 31 schools and about 27,000 students, while L.A. Unified has 891 schools and more than 600,000 students.

It’s also more than the salaries of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at $227,000, Vice President Joe Biden at $221,100, members of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives at $174,000, members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at $150,000, or the L.A City Council at $149,000.

How in the world did the Glendale Unified Board of Education justify that skyrocketing increase, especially when the beginning salary for a teacher is a little more than $45,000, which is 15% of the superintendent’s salary? Which of these positions has a more direct effect on our kids in the classroom every day?

How did school district superintendent salaries get so out of whack? Anyone who goes into education should not be in it for the money, so why the exorbitant pay?

Now that Escalante is leaving at the end of this school year, one might think that his large salary goes with him, but there’s always his retirement pension and the health-care benefits that go with it. Not having access to his contract, there’s no way to know the exact cost, but it will certainly be a very comfortable amount.

Assistant Supt. Richard Sheehan will be the new head of the district, and we have yet to find out what his starting salary will be. Given that he makes nearly $182,000, a reasonable increase of 10% would bring it up to about $200,000.

The school board must say “no” to these ever-spiraling salary increases. They (we) simply can’t afford it anymore.

Get in touch SHARON RAGHAVACHARY is a former Crescenta Valley Town Council member and on the steering committee for Crescenta Valley Community Assn. She may be reached at sharonchary@gmail.com.