Grand jury report says Santa Clara County school officials are overpaid

By Diana Samuels

Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: 06/26/2009 11:00:00 PM PDT
Updated: 06/27/2009 12:00:14 AM PDT

Many school superintendents and board members in Santa Clara County are paid too much in health benefits and perks such as housing loans, car allowances and annuities, according to a county Civil Grand Jury report released this week.

"It is difficult to understand or support continuing these generous administrative expenses, while at the same time, teachers, staff and programs are being cut," states the report, which is titled "Who Really Benefits from Education Dollars? Hint: It's Not the Students."

The report goes on to state: "Although many superintendents' base salaries are already high, additional incremental benefits significantly inflate their base salaries. ... These extra benefits are usually not visible to the public."

In addition to pointing out that superintendents and school board trustees are overcompensated, the report recommends that districts focus locally when searching for new superintendents and consider consolidating to save money. It also suggests paying less for lawyers, noting that in the 2007-08 school year 21 of the county's 34 districts spent more than $7 million combined on outside legal services.

The grand jury spent six or seven months examining district financial records and interviewing district officials, grand jury foreman Don Kawashima said.

In Santa Clara County, superintendents in most districts make comparable pay regardless of the number of students in their charge and all are guaranteed an automatic raise each year, Kawashima said.

"Nobody's looked at how much they're paying the superintendents versus what their job is," Kawashima said.

Palo Alto Unified Superintendent Kevin Skelly is the sixth-highest paid superintendent in the county, with a $248,000 salary in 2008-09 plus $9,000 for a car allowance, according to the grand jury report. Palo Alto was noted as one of two districts where superintendents received housing loans of $1 million with low interest rates.

Skelly's salary — base and car allowance — works out to about $23.52 per student.

Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District Superintendent Barry Groves made $210,330 plus a $6,000 annual car allowance. His compensation works out to $59.81 per student.

Mountain View Whisman School District Superintendent Maurice Ghysels earned $183,854, plus a $6,000 car allowance, which equates to $44.17 per student.

School officials said salary pay is determined by market forces.

"You look at the market, you're going to look at comparables," said Palo Alto School Board Vice President Barbara Klausner. "The goal is to pay what you need to, to retain the quality that you have."

Klausner and Palo Alto School Board President Barb Mitchell both said their district fared well in the report.

Although some districts give their board members as much as $80,000 or $90,000 in medical benefits, for example, Palo Alto and Mountain View Whisman board members don't receive any health benefits. Mountain View-Los Altos trustees each get $38,528 in medical benefits.

Mitchell said the Palo Alto school board has no interest in picking up benefits.

"Our culture here has been to rotate every four to eight years, so it's viewed as a temporary community service role and not a career," she said.

The report also says districts spend too much on "costly search firms" to recruit new superintendents, and should focus locally.

"Why aren't they grooming their own good superintendents?" Kawashima asked.

Mitchell said a superintendent position is too important for a limited search.

"The goal is to get the best person for the job," Mitchell said, "not the best person in the county."

The report also suggests that the county consider consolidating some districts. The county's 34 districts mean 34 superintendents and school boards need to be paid, he said, while San Francisco only has one district.

Patty Murphy, communications director with the Santa Clara County Office of Education, said some consolidation has been occurring throughout the county. She said the county will consider the report's recommendations.

"We want to make sure that we are transparent," Murphy said. "It is taxpayer dollars, and we work to be responsive."

E-mail Diana Samuels at dsamuels@dailynewsgroup.com.