Getting laid off from the Baltimore City Public School System can be extremely lucrative, according to salary documents from the system.
Former school board General Counsel Anthony Trotta received a $140,476 payout on top of his $135,200 salary in the 2005-2006 school year.
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His was the biggest severance payout of a total of $4.6 million spent during that school year, with the top 10 pocketing over $800,000.
And the school system says its chronically underfunded?
Give us a break.
Human Resource Officer Gary Thrift told The Examiner: “Most separation leave is determined by the individual bargaining unit and system procedures. Some employees with 20 years of completed service are eligible for a separation leave at a rate determined by their unit.”
Maybe so. But fate must not determine city public school finances. Real leaders would allocate resources where they most benefit learning. If that means renegotiating staples of union contracts, so be it.
It?s more than outrageous for teachers to be able to accrue 315 sick days over their career and administrators 140 days when the school system leaves doors, fixtures and windows broken because it supposedly can not afford to fix them. For teachers that?s more than a year and a half of pay. Are we the only ones so naive to think sick days are a benefit, not a privilege? Do you know anyone in the private sector who can roll over so many days? And since sick days are paid out at the most recent salary rate, not the one at which they accrued, they amount to a defacto raise.
If the school system could prove this benefit attracts and keeps highly qualified teachers it would be one thing. But we have seen no evidence it does. Besides, do we want teachers who base their desire to school our young on how many days they can be “sick” or sick days they can bank? If US News & World Report ranked metro school systems, is sick leave banking a factor that would drive us to the top of the rankings? Of course not. Sounds like the argument that raising teacher pensions will help to attract and keep teachers in the state, a myth debunked by a joint Abell Foundation/Maryland Public Policy Institute report late last year. The only thing higher pensions do is add to taxpayers? burden.
And the only thing cushy severance packages do is rob students of textbooks, gym classes and more teachers to help them learn.
We know new school Chancellor Andres Alonso must face a myriad of decisions before the start of the school year. And we appreciate what a daunting task he faces to turn around the city school system. Working to cut severance packages is one way he could move more money into the classroom where it is needed most.
