Administration Cuts in Schools

As a parent and teacher I strongly approve of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s move to freeze administrators’ salaries, particularly as the board plans to cut teachers’ pay by 3% (Oct. 9). After the numerous cuts at our local sites, it’s about time such a move was suggested.

Unfortunately, it’s too late. In the district reorganization last spring, officials created a new middle schools division, aligned special education so that where there had been five administrative offices, there are now nine and moved many on-site principals to higher-paid positions. While officials claimed to be eliminating administrative positions, new ones at far higher salaries were created.

If we truly want to cut the administrative glut, we need to roll back administrative salaries to the level they were before the reorganization. Our district cannot afford a staff of highly paid newly promoted bureaucrats whose salaries negate the painful cuts made in local instructional programs.

REBECCA ANN PENSO, Los Angeles