Top L.A. Schools Officials Get 6% Raise

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday approved 6% pay raises for Supt. Ruben Zacarias and three top deputies, as well as 3% raises for about 30 other administrators.

The board approved the raises after certifying that the school district had improved in six of seven performance indicators established last November as a means of holding the administrators accountable for student achievement.

Zacarias’ new salary will be $188,680 a year, up from last year’s starting pay of $178,000. The district’s three deputy superintendents will be paid $147,340 annually, up from $139,000.

Chief Administrative Officer David Koch, who was promoted to that position this summer, will receive the same pay as the deputy superintendents.

The pay raises are retroactive to July 1997, when the district handed out 6% raises to all other employees.

The board voted last November to give the same raise to its top administrators but deferred the payment for Zacarias and his deputies because they had already received large raises as a result of promotion.

The board seized the moment to take the first step in establishing accountability for employees.

The other administrators, who head most of the district’s departments, were given half their raise immediately, but the other 3% was contingent on the same performance indicators.

Zacarias, who was on vacation Tuesday, sent a report to the board indicating there was improvement in every category but one: the number of students passing college preparatory classes. The raises were contingent on improvements in four areas.

The six measures that improved were standardized test scores, third-grade literacy, transition of limited-English-proficient students into English instruction, number of Advanced Placement classes, student and teacher attendance and dropout rate.

Board member David Tokofsky criticized the indicators as merely “process measures” which do not really gauge student achievement.

Tokofsky was unsuccessful, however, in a motion to change the system for awarding raises.

He dismissed, for example, the finding that the percentage of third-graders reading at grade level had increased from 35.68% to 37.57%.

“You’re not coming to grips with the fundamental thing that says two out of three third-grade students are not reading at grade level,” Tokofsky said. “That’s what we’re being judged by.”

Other board members said they wanted to consider adjustments to the seven criteria, but were unwilling to make changes for the current school year.

“It’s just not fair to the schools,” board member Jeff Horton said.

“I will consider it down the line,” said board member Barbara Boudreaux.