EVSC Teacher's Association Attacks Executive Salaries

Evansville Teachers Association Executive Director says he sees obvious inequities in the pay scale for teachers and front office executives in the E-VSC. Dan Hartz called a press conference Tuesday to call attention to a number of newly created, recently filled, or enhanced executive administration positions. Many of the jobs are among those Superintendent Dr. Vince Bertram calls his cabinet. The ETA says the positions, which include a Chief Academic Officer at $120,000, a Chief Financial Officer at $110,000 and an Executive Director of Development at $95,000. The Association estimates the jobs, some of which are still unfilled, will run the district upwards of $1.2 million a year. "I do believe you can hire quality people to do the job at a quality level for less than some of the salaries were seeing," said Hartz. He suggested that continuing to pay top executives and their secretaries at such a high rate could compromise the districts long term budget. "If were not careful we could find ourselves back in the same boat we were in back in the early 2000s," said Hartz, referring to budget and staff cuts the district had to make after a referendum failed to raise taxes and revenue for the E-VSC. He also questioned the fairness of dedicating the financial resources to administration posts while front line teachers starting pay remains at the $32,000/year level. Bertram responded to the charges saying his executive staff are already helping to find new efficiencies that will save the district upwards of $135,000. He said he expects them to continue to find new ways to generate savings, find new revenue streams, and garner new grant opportunities. "These positions werent created randomly, but very strategically," said Bertram. The superintendent said he brought in staff who will help lead the district in a new direction, by giving teachers the best possible resources to educate children. Bertram considers those new staff members to be among the resources. "If you want quality, you have to pay for it," said Bertram. "Were not competing with other school corporations... were competing with private industry, private corporations." Bertram says his executives, who will help implement the master plan developed over the last 8 months, are all among the brightest and most capable executives around. He says their salaries are commensurate with their talents and skills, and with what such a position should be paid according to the E-VSC pay schedule. If anything, Bertram said, they are underpaid compared to what they could make in the private sector. Bertram says the ETA figure of $1.2 million is a bit high, saying the payroll for those jobs is closer to $1.06 million. Bertram says 52% of the funding for those positions come from federal Title 1 and Title 2 grants, while 48% comes from the general operating budget.