School administrative
costs soar
EDITORIAL, NJ Home
News Tribune Online, August 22, 2005
Another school year, and another
round of news about the escalating costs of education. A published report
last week noted that four Middlesex County superintendents make more than the
acting governor of the state; others across the county are being awarded
generous vacation and sick-day packages, and still others are demanding and
getting assistance with life insurance or annuity payments.
Considering school districts' resources and the sheer number of districts in the
state, the trend is alarming.
It also is further evidence of municipalities' need to find a way to merge
administrative services, if not school districts.
The marketplace may dictate that the very best superintendents — or at least
those with years of experience and plenty of advanced degrees — can negotiate
for large paychecks and expensive perks. But sooner or later, no matter
how good the superintendent, children's education will suffer if money that
might have gone to another art or music teacher, social worker or lunch aide, or
a round of classroom or library books, is instead going to perks for a boss the
district cannot afford.
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