New school chief’s salary is out of line

Re “Are they worth it?” Opinion, Nov. 6

The incoming Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent will earn 20% more than his predecessor and will receive a $3,000 monthly housing allowance and $45,000-a-year expense account. That makes his annual salary $381,000, one of the highest in the nation for a superintendent. This is a man who has no background in education administration. Teachers in the district are asking for a 9% pay raise without expense accounts or housing allowances. What message does that show? That despite his folksy rhetoric and promises to cut district waste, David L. Brewer is now the poster child of bloated administrative salaries.

JONATHAN WEISBART

West Hollywood

The writer is a teacher at Malabar Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights.

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Short answer: Most definitely not. Longer answer: A school superintendent should not make more than a teacher (or maybe a principal). A city council member should not get a car allowance but a bus pass instead. Traffic congestion and smog are not going to get better unless the public transportation system does. The latter will not improve until the city government has to use it.

No one paid by the public and serving the public who makes more than $100,000 per year should get a housing allowance unless he or she is willing to board a couple of homeless people.

PETER PAULI

Los Angeles