I’ve been reading about the controversy over possible pay raises for Peoria Public School District 150 administrators Dr. Fischer and Dr. Hannah. Bill Dennis — who originally broke the story two days before it was picked up by the Journal Star — has another post on it today, and I added my comments to it.
You may remember that this all started when the district booted out Kay Royster. They hired Chuck Fabish out of retirement to be interim superintendent. He quit at the end of 2004. Everyone wanted Deputy Superintendent Ken Hinton to have the top job, but he wasn’t qualified; i.e., he didn’t have state certification. So the school board appointed Dr. Fischer and Dr. Hannah as co-interim-superintendents who were legally the top dogs, but the deputy superintendent (Hinton) actually took care of the day-to-day duties of the district business. Meanwhile, Hinton attended Western Illinois University to get his superintendent certification. In July 2005, he was certified and made permanent superintendent of District 150.
Now, what’s the fate of the co-interim superintendents, Drs. Fischer and Hannah? Well, I found this tidbit in the official District 150 minutes (available online here):
“REPORT FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT — Mr. Hinton expressed that he would like to thank Dr. Fischer and Dr. Hannah for stepping forward and that he was pleased to recommend that they be named Associate Superintendents. Ms. Butler stated that she appreciated all the reports they have prepared and that their primary interest is the students. Mrs. Ross stated that she supports the recommendation, but would like job descriptions before they change titles. Mr. Hinton reported that the administrators would have more job responsibilities and their job descriptions are being prepared.” (7/1/2005)
It seems clear from this information that the position of “Associate Superintendent” never existed prior to July 2005 and was created specifically for Drs. Fischer and Hannah. That sort of thing has always been looked down upon at every private company I’ve worked for. You don’t create a position for a particular person. That aside, I could not find anywhere in the subsequent minutes any mention of the job description being completed.
Why does this matter? Because, whatever the job description and additional responsibilities they are supposed to have, it supposedly is worth a salary increase of 28% more than what they were making as co-interim-superintendents. For a school district strapped for funds, planning to close schools, and maintaining a wage freeze for other administrators, this does not look good to the public. It also doesn’t look good that it took a Freedom of Information Act request from a private citizen to bring the situation to light. If these raises are defensible, why the secrecy?
At least one person has speculated that they could be trying to boost their pensions. As you may know, under the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois, pensions are 75% percent of a member’s final average salary (“the average salary for the highest 4 consecutive years within the last 10 years of creditable service,” according to P.A. 91-0927). That means that Drs. Fischer and Hannah, who according to the Journal Star’s report made more than $92,200 as principals when they entered administration in the fall of 2004, could (if they qualify for full pensions — I don’t know this for sure, but I would guess they will) receive an annual pension of at least $97,500 (75% of $130,000) if this pay raise goes through and they retire after four years.
The school board has yet to vote on the pay hikes. If they plan to vote in favor of the hikes, it would be in their best interests to reveal and defend the new job descriptions and accompanying pay increases. Otherwise there will be speculation, rumor, and general public distrust for the school district that it can’t afford in addition to all its other problems.