KEYE-TV has a revealing story tonight on excessive salaries paid to Texas superintendents, some of which are over $300,000.
While the Texas Education Agency posts superintendents’ base salary, one must look at the contracts to see the total compensation, which as the KEYE report notes usually includes an annuity to which the district contributes as much as $20k per year, car allowance, various signing and recurring bonuses, and more.
Fortunately, KEYE has posted many of these contracts.
Even worse, the report notes that many districts have spent hundreds of thousands to buyout superintendents contracts. There is an imbalance, as the superintendent under state law can quit within 45 days of the start of the school year while the school district remains on the hook for all of the years left on their contracts, which are often three or five years. Clearly, many Texas school districts need a lesson in fiscal discipline from the top down.
