Comparing Urbana superintendent contracts and salaries
The Urbana school board announced last week that Don Owen, the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, will be the district's next superintendent.
I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the school district, requesting Owen's current salary information (I actually asked for his current contract, but he doesn't have one) and the contract he signed last week for the superintendent's job. The school district also sent me current Superintendent Preston Williams' contract.
This information is public record. You can find PDF versions of these documents by clicking the links above, but I thought I'd break them down a little for you.
Owen's salary now is $103,465, according to the salary statement. In 2013-14, he will earn $170,000 as a salary.
That's a 64.3 percent increase from what Owen makes now, not including what the school district does and will contribute on his behalf to the state's Teachers' Retirement System and the Teacher Retirees' Health System.
Keep in mind, though, that Owen still has a year left in his current position, so his salary could change a bit in the coming year.
Owen now has 17 sick days per year, four personal days and 22 days of vacation, according to his salary statement. His new contract will allow him 15 sick days, two personal days and 25 days of vacation.
Owen's superintendent contract allows for a 3 percent raise each school year between 2013 and 2017.
That's the exact same percent raise as allowed in Williams' contract. His salary in 2009-10 was $158,342 and his 2012-13 salary will be $173,025. The two contracts are very similar. They include the same powers and duties, student performance and academic improvement goals and reasons for terminating the contract.
Owen's contract does allow for it to be rescinded in the next year "for any act constituting cause committed by the Superintendent before June 30, 2013, in his position as Assistant Superitnendent of Schools." If that happens, Owen would be allowed a hearing and would be responsible for his own lawyer.
Owen's contract also allows the school board to ask him to have a physical exam (also included in Williams' contract) but adds that only the school board or those authorized by the board would be allowed to look at a report from the exam.
Photo by Sandra Gorman for The News-Gazette
MoreApparently they need to spend more money on adult education as you are in error:
Owen now has 17 sick days per year, four personal days and 22 days of vacation, according to his salary statement. His new contract will allow him 15 sick days, two personal days and 25 days of vacation.
The arithmetic:
17 + 4 + 22 = 43
15 + 2 + 25 = 42
Neither one equals fifty days off -- approximately fifty, but even estimating it rounds to 40 (or 45 if you wish the closest 5). Either adult math education or adult writing education -- you pick. But a lack of attention to the basic R's severely harms the strength of your argument. Google will even do the 'rithmetic for you -- just plug 17+4+22 into a Google search box and it will spit out the answer.
More to the argument, I believe that regardless of the surrounding communities wages for the job, having what amounts to the CEO position paid more than 3 or 4 times the salary of the lowest-paid full-time position AND continuing to get a 3% raise is patently unfair -- 3% of 20,000 is $600. 3% of $170,000 is $5,100 -- a full quarter of the base salary of someone making $20,000 (let alone the retirement benefits, which usually tack on another one-to-two thirds). More money does not equate to more work or getting a better employee -- look to the latest Univeristy of Illinois "research" with Hogan and Troyer.
And roundabouts save money over signalized (stoplights) or stop signs over the long haul.
What Urbana does not need is short-sighted citizens (and their representatives) sticking future residents with a sub-par quality of life and shifting the costs and problems on them due to a lack of vision and true fudiciary responsibility under the guise of saving money. You're wasting money. Changing the stop signs to stoplights at Windsor and Race will cause more deaths and injuries. Roundabouts save lives (3,000 roundabouts in the US, zero pedestrian deaths).
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