According to salary data provided by the Baltimore City Public School System, many central office employees should be losing six-figure jobs next year in CEO Andres Alonso?s restructuring plan.
Some employees have complained bitterly about the change. But an administrative job is not a right, contrary to what former employee Jo-Ellen Hurley thinks. She resigned over the changes last month. In a public letter to Alonso, she wrote, “I bought a house in Baltimore City and planned for the future ?knowing? that my job … would ?never? be in jeopardy because I was sharing my knowledge and best demonstrated practices in infusing technology into instruction at the district level.”
Losing a job is not easy. But shouldn?t student needs dictate where resources should go?
Spending heavily on administrative positions without related performance improvements does not make sense. Baltimore City has the highest percentage of professional staff per student and spends the most per student in the region, but achieves the worst academic results. Complex factors contribute to student performance, but clearly a top-heavy organization that dictates to school principals how to run their schools is no recipe for success.
The school system demanded $1,100 to release public records of total employment at the central office. So taxpayers cannot estimate the percentage who could be laid off or transferred back to teaching under Alonso?s plan to eliminate 310 central office positions and give principals $5,600 in discretionary funding per pupil. Now they get only $90. But of the list of 190 central office positions the administration did reveal, 97 made more than $100,000 in 2007.
Think about what morethan $10 million a year in salaries could do if turned into scholarships. It could give at least 2,000 students $5,000 apiece to attend a school of their choice, where the graduation rate exceeds the district?s 34 percent. That is the fourth-worst rate in the U.S., according to a recent report by America?s Promise Alliance.
And as scholarships, that public money could help good students go where they can learn safely. We know the savings caused by these changes will not be used for that productive purpose.
But we applaud Alonso for at least giving principals more control over the best way to reach and teach their students. It is the first step in replacing a school system defined by its failures to one driven by achievement.
