Pay Hike for Top School Officials Is Postponed

Responding to public outrage over a plan to give top Los Angeles school administrators their second raise this year, the Board of Education voted Monday to hold back the money until next July, and then make it contingent on proof of performance.

After hashing out the pay package in closed session, the board members unanimously approved a revised plan requiring improvement in four of seven measures of student performance before the four top administrators receive a 6% raise.

If approved at the end of the school year, the raises would give Supt. Ruben Zacarias a salary of $188,860, up about $11,000, and three of his four deputies would increase about $7,000 to $146,052.

An additional 30 second-tier administrators would receive half the 6% raise before the end of the year, once they submit performance standards for themselves, and then the other half next summer if the district meets the improvement goals.

The measurements of performance include test scores, pass rates for college preparation classes, dropout rates, percentage of third-graders reading at grade level and the transition of non-English-speaking students out of bilingual education.

The vote extends the raise--duplicating the one given to teachers this fall--to about 600 other nonunion employees and 19,000 part-time employees.

Hailing the decision as a historic first step toward accountability for every employee in the massive Los Angeles Unified School District, the board members challenged teachers union representatives to prepare to have their salaries linked to student performance.

“I want all teachers to be accountable,” said board member Barbara Boudreaux, criticizing the teachers union as “mean-spirited” for trying to block others from receiving the same raise they got.

In a heated exchange with United Teachers-Los Angeles President Day Higuchi, Boudreaux said she had been on the receiving end of a phone barrage by teachers who were disrespectful and misinformed.

“Last week, UTLA told the teachers to call and jam our phone lines, and they were jammed,” Boudreaux said.

Although she joined the unanimous vote, Boudreaux characterized it as a “double-cross” of Zacarias who, she said, was promised the raise during his salary negotiations before taking the superintendent’s job in July.

“This was a deal made by the board and the superintendent and his deputies,” Boudreaux said.

Zacarias, however, helped break the logjam by volunteering to forgo the raise, and implied that he had no such deal.

“I have not asked for a raise nor will I accept one at this time,” Zacarias said before the board began its discussion.

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The battle over the raise erupted after the board took a split vote Nov. 3 in closed session giving administrators and other nonunion employees the same raise negotiated by the teachers union this fall.

For Zacarias and the three deputy superintendents, this raise came shortly after even larger pay increases geared to their promotions this summer. Overall, the four administrators would have gained nearly 36% in pay.

Board member Jeff Horton, who had voted for the raises, changed his position last week, proposing an amendment that would have held the raises for about 35 top administrators until school performance improves.

During Monday’s closed session, board President Julie Korenstein added a further amendment, allowing the 30 administrators below the superintendent level half the raise now.

Horton praised her amendment as a “refinement and improvement” of his.

Several speakers praised Zacarias for agreeing to the linkage, but others vented anger despite the change.

“That the issue was even considered boggles the imagination,” said Lawrence Ruby. “You’ve lost track of what your end result should be.”

Several board members said they now want to make student performance the criterion for all future raises for all employees.

“It is my intent to work with my colleagues to find a way to make this apply to every employee,” Horton said. “You will break a hole in the wall that separates student achievement from what happens to employees.”

Horton said he expected teacher accountability also to be linked to districtwide measures of performance, rather than trying to establish the performance of individual teachers.

Zacarias too said the administrator plan would become the model for all district employees next year.

“We will be the first ones up to the plate when it comes to accountability, because we care about those students,” union President Higuchi told the board.

In other action, the board approved two measures adding close to $6 million to pay for consultants and extra staff for the district’s implementation of the Chanda Smith consent decree, which requires the district to bring its programs for special education students into compliance with law. Board members David Tokofsky, Valeire Fields and George Kiriyama voted against specific portions of the new funds after peppering district officials with questions. “There’s no logic or rhyme or reason to it,” Tokofsky said.