Retired Glendale Unified superintendent’s $277K pension among highest in the state for educators
Former Glendale Unified Superintendent Michael Escalante received a pension of $277,833 in 2014, making him the highest pension earner among former Glendale Unified employees as well as the majority of retired state educators, according to data released this week by the California Policy Center.
Escalante was one of about 1,500 retired educators in Los Angeles County to take home a pension last year of more than $100,000, and was listed as the ninth highest pension earner of all former public school and college educators in the state last year, according to the data.
The center runs Transparent California, a database of public-sector compensation, and issued the report after requesting pension data from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, known as CalSTRS. Additional health-benefit dollars were not included in the data.
When Escalante was hired to take the helm of Glendale Unified in 2004, the News-Press reported his base salary was $174,000.
By the time he retired from the top post in Glendale in 2010, the newspaper reported he was earning about $297,000, making him the highest paid superintendent in Los Angeles County at the time.
He retired after 38 years working in public education.
Escalante’s predecessor, Jim Brown, retired as Glendale Unified’s superintendent in 2004 after more than 32 years working in public education.
Last year, Brown’s pension totaled $154,274, according to the data, a figure roughly $123,500 less than what Escalante received.
Several factors go into a former employee’s pension, including the salary they earn at the time they retire, the age at which they retire and how many years they spend working in public education, according to CalSTRS.
On average, an educator who had at least 30 years of service earned a pension of $66,641 in 2014, according to the California Policy Center report.
Supporters of the retirement system, which is the largest pension fund dedicated only to educators in the world, said pensions are a key component in supporting and valuing former educators’ years of contributions to public schools.
However, Mark Bucher, president of the California Policy Center, said most people are unaware of what educators collect in retirement, and cautions that particularly high pensions decrease the amount of money that could be spent on students in the classroom.
“Pensions take money from schools,” he said. “You ask 100 people if they realize there’s educators making a quarter of a million dollars in retirement — nobody knows. How many teachers [can] we have in the classroom instead of paying Mr. Escalante $277,000 a year? Five, six, seven?”
Glendale school officials have expressed concern in recent months over squeezing their budget to contribute to the state’s teacher retirement system in a mandated effort to make the system solvent in the coming years.
The school district contributed $8.5 million from its own general fund in 2013-14 to support the retirement system, and by 2020-21, the district’s contribution is expected to more than double to roughly $20.5 million, according to school officials.
Last year, Escalante’s pension amounted to about $70,000 less than the highest pension recipient in the state, according to the data.
When contacted, Escalante declined to comment.
The top pension went to William Habermehl, who retired as the superintendent of the Orange County Office of Education in 2012 after 47 years in education. He received $347,856 last year.
The second highest pension went to former Tustin Unified Superintendent Richard Bray, who retired in 2011 after more than 43 years in education, and collected $307,135 in 2014.