LPS execs get more than money with OK’d benefit packages
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BY MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star
When the Lincoln Board of Education approved a 4.5 percent salary increase for the district’s top administrators last week, it approved more than that.
The salary and benefits packages approved by a 5-2 vote included contributions to a tax-deferred annuity, a cell phone and laptop allowance, life insurance premiums, health insurance, and contributions to the state public employees retirement system.
Superintendent Susan Gourley’s salary increased from $228,591 at $238,878 for the 2008-09 school year. That includes $13,393 in merit pay this year.
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Salary increases approved last week by the Lincoln Board of Education for the superintendent and her executive team include:
* Susan Gourley, superintendent, from $228,591 to $238,878.
* Marilyn Moore, associate superintendent for instruction, from $165,307 to $172,566.
* Dave Myers, assistant to the superintendent for general administration and communications, $131,186 to $136,909
* Nancy Biggs, associate superintendent for human resources, from $149,898 to $156,463
* Mark Shepard, associate superintendent for business affairs, $154,227 (new contract)
* Mary Campbell, assistant to the superintendent for general administration and governmental relations, $127,000 (new contract)
On top of that, the district will contribute the equivalent of 8.5 percent of her salary to a tax-deferred annuity. Gourley negotiated that contribution percentage when she was hired in 2004; with her salary increase this year, it amounts to a little more than $20,000.
The district will make similar contributions of 8 percent of the salaries of Marilyn Moore, associate superintendent for instruction; Nancy Biggs, associate superintendent for human resources; and Dave Myers, assistant to the superintendent for general administration and communications.
Two new members of the team, however, negotiated annuity contributions of 14 percent of their salaries.
Board member Keith Prettyman said that’s because Mark Shepard, the new associate superintendent for business affairs, asked that the district match the contribution he was getting with the Fremont Public Schools.
When the district hired Mary Campbell as assistant to the superintendent for general administration and governmental relations, she negotiated the same contribution.
Prettyman said the existing executives asked for an increase in the contribution to match Shepard’s and Campbell’s, but that didn’t happen this year. He said he would be willing to look at such an increase next year, depending on the budget situation.
“I just did not think it was appropriate to increase that particular benefit this year,” he said.
Typically, the executives’ salary increases match the salary and benefits packages negotiated by teachers and other employees.
Prettyman said next year he’d like to consider executive raises based on merit.
“It’s far more typical of executive positions to have increases based on merit criteria,” he said.
Teachers this year negotiated a 4.5 percent increase in salaries and benefits, but because that includes benefits like health insurance contributions, salary increases average 2.95 percent.
The district increased its contribution to teachers’ health insurance by 35.6 percent, said Ken Babcock, director of LPS personnel relations.
Board members Richard Meginnis and Kathy Danek voted against the administrators’ salary and benefits package increases, in part because they were approved on the first reading (normally the board votes after the second reading) and in part because of budgetary concerns.
Gourley’s salary is slightly lower than the Omaha Public Schools superintendent’s $240,000 salary. OPS Superintendent John Mackiel’s package includes a $20,000 annuity contribution, said OPS spokeswoman Luanne Nelson.
Grand Island Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel is paid $187,409, which doesn’t include a mileage allowance, cell phone stipend or health or life insurance.
Kearney Public Schools Superintendent Brian Maher is paid $177,500, which includes other benefits, he said.
Prettyman said the board doesn’t set its executive salaries based on comparability to other superintendents, though they’re aware of what other superintendents get paid. The board wants to to make sure the top LPS administrators are appropriately compensated so they don’t look elsewhere.
“We want to make sure the (executive) team remains a team,” he said.
Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.
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If $200,000 is the reason our administrators are not looking elsewhere perhaps we need new administrators. I would hope that the people we are entrusiting our future generations to are motivated by something more noble than cash. I suspect most of them are, but $200,00 is a lot of reasons to keep plugging away at something your hearts not really into. "
Truly these salaries represent a breach of trust with our community, especially in our current economy when so many people are losing jobs, threatened with losing jobs, or underemployed. "
What the heck is this? I thought she was employed by LPS?
How does she qualify for State benefits? She was not hired by the State. She does no work for the benefit of the entire State, only the City of Lincoln. Someone please explain to me how this is possible?
I'm sure State workers in Scottsbluff will be happy to learn they have to share with a Lincoln Public Schools employee. "
As a nurse with a 35-year career history, I have never made more than $25/hr, get absoulutely no retirement benefit package except for the 401K I support myself, am burdened with an insurance package where mine is $60/month, but adding the family cost me $400/month and it has a $1500/person deductible. In this time, I have delivered babies when the doctor didn't make it, have been bled on, pooped on, thrown-up on, cried on, held the hands of the dying, have been hit, kicked and bit. I have back problems from the years of lifting, have accrued years and years of continuing education hours to keep abreast of the latest knowlege/skills coming down the pipe, have worked over-time and double shifts through staff shortages and blizzard conditions, and have been absent from family gatherings at every holiday that exists on the calendar. Through all of this, I feel I have made a true difference in the lives of others. Does your paper shuffling talents do the same???? "
How many people will be put off by this action, only because of the timing.
I think the staff do a great job, but the nation, state, county, nor this school district are in a position to justify raises which far exceed what is reasonable for our current situation.
This is bad policy, bad politics, bad fiscal planning, a good idea--presented and executed badly.
Please, administrators, refuse your raises. It's the right thing to do. And it could save your jobs in the not-distant future. We ALL are being careful, not vengeful, just careful. Help us by graciously turning down these perks. "
Cut the pay of these administrators by $50,000 to $100,000 each. They'd all still be doing quite well, thank you, and their pay wouldn't be nearly the insult to the people of Lincoln who are struggling to remain employed in decent jobs so that we can keep paying our taxes to pay their salaries. "
This is Lincoln PUBLIC Schools...PUBLIC!!! This is NOT a business!!! The administrators should not be making CEO pay! They should be treated the same as any other public entity, and their pay should be on par with what city directors make...which would effectively cut Doc Sue's pay to less than half of what it is now. If she thinks her 'service' is too valuable for pay like that, then she can hit the bricks and we can put someone in there who wants to help kids without needing to get rich in the process. "
And voters voted in term limits so senators would leave their $12,000 a year jobs. "
Someone else here had a good idea. Demand an audit of LPS. "
I don't know what's worse. The fact that Gourley and her staff ask for and accept these raises, that the board of education rubber stamps and approves these raises all the time, or that LPS will be asking for higher property taxes again! "
If you want to complain about the schools I guess complain about how reading and math scores are up or that the buildings are finally being fixed and modernized. Complain about the opening of new schools to allow for more growth and less over populating of the classroom.
Oh wait these are good things. I am sure many of you will find a problem with those as well. "
Wanda Caffrey, LIBA School Liaison Committee Chair "
These increases have nothing to do with a poor economy. They have everything to do with what the market will bear for these positions and the fact that these execs are high performers.
It's true that grad rates have slipped two points -- but they slipped from the HIGHEST EVER, RECORD SETTING number they set last year. Grad rates (and student achievement in general) are the highest they've ever been and it's due to this staff under the direction of this school board.
I know their salaries are way higher than what most of us make. But these folks are highly educated, very experienced, and have huge responsibilities. Dr. Gourley is essentially the CEO of an organization with 5000 employees. Go look up what CEOs in the private sector make. It's a *lot* higher.
The reality is, this is what having good people in these positions costs.
To the folks comparing these positions to the Governor or Vice President, I would remind you that those are elected positions. When it comes to the business of running a school district, quality and performance are the top criteria. And quality costs.
But I guarantee this is much cheaper than what poor leadership would cost us. "
LPS website says: Opinions may be expressed to the board in writing, and will be distributed to board members.
Written comments to the board may be addressed to:
Superintendent of Schools
Lincoln Public Schools
P.O. Box 82889
Lincoln, NE 68501
http://www.lps.org/about/board/ "
Do you have a PhD and 30 years (or whatever) of industry experience? Does every difficult decision you make end up in the newspaper? Are you responsible for thousands of employees? Could you leave your current job and immediately double or triple your salary at a big corporation? Do you work your tail off to make your organization and the community better and then constantly get criticized by people who don't really pay attention to the issues? Have your successes been far reaching and reported in the LJS (higher test scores, increased grad rates)? "
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UNITY, Maine (Dec 10): Superintendent Joe Mattos received a one-year contract extension from the SAD 3 School Board Monday, Dec. 8, but did not ask for any pay raise. "These are really bad economic times," Mattos said Tuesday.
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COLUMBIA, Michigan. (Feb. 26 08) The Columbia School Board extended Superintendent Brent Beamish's contract through June 2010 Monday night and honored his request to not give him a pay raise.
For Beamish's annual performance evaulation, he had a rating of 4.48, with 5 being the highest, the board said.
"If every community had the likes of a Brent Beamish as their school superintendent, the students, community, and staff could consider themselves and the futures of many blessed," board President Martha Kelly Spicer wrote in a statement.
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Now wouldn't that show GREAT leadership if LPS had a superintendent who did that. Imagine the PR and good will LPS would gain. "
The biggest problem here is that there is really no incentive for the admin to bargain properly with the teacher's union when it comes for raises, because they give themselves "the same increase the teachers got". That's what the real issue is. "
Second, most of the loudest complainers here don't appear to be fans of education or learning (based on the poor spelling, grammar problems, and thinking errors). Be honest--you don't know what they do--you don't know what their jobs pay in other comparable cities--and you are not qualified to determine if they are overpaid or not. While you might be mad about how much they are paid, it is not based on anything rational--you simply are being angry at the wrong people.
Third, educating our children is the one of the most important jobs of government. I look at my son and know that his life will be determined by how well he learns--education largely determines lifetime income. I can already hear some folks say, well, I know Jed, he is uneducated and he is a millionaire--you're actually proving my earlier point by illustrating how little most folks understand about causation and relationships between variables like education and income (do a little research--if you want to make more money, learn more).
Read the article a little more closely and consider that some of the administrators are well-paid because other districts pay MORE than Lincoln typically does...which means that the going rate is probably higher than in Lincoln.
I'd also like to point out that it is completely out of line to personally attack these administrators and demand that they do anything with their pay increases (give them back, give them to charity). That is completely inappropriate--no one has any right to tell these folks how to spend their money or to insinuate that if they don't spend it the way you think they should that they are not as good as you.
Just admit that money in our culture does seem to translate into our sense of self worth. Some of you don't appear to make enough money to feel good about yourselves, that is not because of anything these administrators did. "
Which LPS administration area do you work for?
From your comments that is the only thing that makes sense. "
an executive position with a huge corporation and never made that kind of
money or raises. Yes I had 46 years of self worth until I moved back to
Nebraska unfortunately. Its not what those people want to spend their money on. The point is, when I left big wonderful schools, never encountered these huge salaries debates, and property taxes 6 times lower
than here in Lincoln. The economy downturn effects everybody, NOT just
everybody BUT Gourley, the board and friends!!!! NEVER in my life have
I ever seen a city with schools in CONSTANT BUILDING AND ADDING ON. Its
like the contractors have moved in for life. You tell me why, in a
little town of 200,000 am I paying property taxes that mostly go to the
schools, $4,200.00 verses $910.00 in my former city & state with bigger schools, and I have a lessor house here in Lincoln. This is the problem
in Lincoln, people have set back and been the "YES" people and let the
few bully them into these WAY OVER VALUED homes and WAY OVER ASSESSED TAXES!! Judgement of these board members is absolutely frightening. My
word, there are people and businesses hurting in this town, what is wrong
with you people???? "
money.cnn.com/2008/12/16/news/economy/salary_increases/index.htm?postversion=2008121613
Check it out. "
that make 100k plus,,,,,,,,,,,,,,insane! "
1. Lincoln Public Schools takes a whopping 64.1% of EVERY property tax dollar paid annually...an increase of 1% over the previous year.
2. To balance the 2007-08 fiscal year budget, the City of Lincoln cut 63.5 positions, saving $2.8 million, including $1.8 million in tax funds.
3. In 2008, the School Board, including Kathy Danek, approved an increase of 5.7% in the LPS budget. Among the biggest increases in the budget was $11 million for salaries and benefits.
4. The LPS budget included putting $4 million into a cash reserve.
5. When the Legislature passed a law that changed the formula determining how state aid is distributed, LPS "only" got a 26% increase in state aid, compared to the 42% increase they were expecting. That same change in formula actually resulted in a decrease in state aid for a lot of smaller schools.
6. In February 2008, LJS writer Margaret Reist wrote an article defending 'poor' Doc Gourley, stating that she doesn't drive a Hummer, as it had been rumored, but instead drives a lowly 1997 Mercedes...how rough.
7. In that same article, Lincoln Board of Education President Keith Prettyman said the board got what it was looking for when it hired Gourley.
My conclusions based on the facts...Lincoln taxpayers are more greatly affected by the LPS than by any public entity in the city or county; in 2008, the City of Lincoln took serious steps to cut the budget and curb spending, while Lincoln Public Schools went hog wild; the City of Lincoln cut almost $3 million from its budget, while LPS tacked on $4 million it didn't even need; LPS had the opportunity to lower their tax levy, but elected not to because they didn't get as much money as they wanted; Gourley, quite obviously, is not rich because she drives a '97 Mercedes-Benz...practically an ol' beater; and finally, we know who we have to blame for this mess...the same guy who is SUPPOSEDLY standing up for us. "
Then people who have no more clue than the man in the moon can criticize them anonymously.
Face it folks, you cannot do it, so you complain about it.
By the way, although it was mentioned earlier, if any one of these people ran a business with this many employees and a budget this size, their salaries would be double or triple what they are now.
This administration is running what is probably the best school system in the country for a city this size. In business, they would all get sizeable bonuses.
And it is certainly not the administration's fault that Nebraska has chosen to fund its schools primarily through property taxes. Our per pupil spending is still remarkably low, for a system of this quality.
Some people cannot succeed, so they criticize those who do. "
A few years ago, I left the state of Nebraska and took a job in Missouri. I made more in my first year of teaching then teachers in LPS do in their eighth year. My benefits are completely covered and my retirement program is matched dollar for dollar after 5 years. It's a shame that Nebraska can't reward the people who really deserve it, and it's a shame that the teachers there do little to change it. Just because this is the way it is, doesn't mean this is the way it has to be... "
All of this during a time when so many people are having troubles making ends meet. Do us all a favor LPS Board..... Resign now! "
Point 2: Our school systems in Nebraska are FAR BETTER than many systems in the nation. WE ARE NOT falling behind like the failing schools that so many people refer to when complaining about OUR educational system in Nebraska.
Point 3: Many people who complain haven't set foot in a classroom in Nebraska since they graduated high school. Honestly, when have you watched teachers teach? Have you seen the workload of an administrator?
Point 4: I'm tired of uninformed people making sweeping generalizations about people, situations and concepts that they have no knowledge about.
Point 5: I don't agree with the pay raises, but I'm not informed enough to come to a conclusion. Just cuz I didn't get a raise doesn't mean somebody else shouldn't. "
It's completely unreasonable to expect taxpayers to support and increase in salary when the value of the property being taxed to pay for it is falling.
It's unconscionable to accept such a high salary when some staff are struggling to pay rent in a cheap apartment. "
First check your spelling of intelligent. LPS does NOT stand out in the national rankings nor does it offer anything special.It really fails to even challenge our students. I came from a city in South Dakota where they did challenge my children. One of those small podunk towns some idiot mentioned before. When we moved here my kids were bored because they had already learned the material they were being taught. Second the people on this board are stating what they feel and have every right to. That is how our free system works. During a year when schools were to be closed due to a lack of money it seems to me that perhaps we pay too much at the top when we all know it is the teachers in the trenches that make the real difference here. This is bad timing and in comparison to what was offered to the teachers was also out of line. I am guessing after reading these post and talking with people the LPS Board need not reapply.I know of too many people that have had to sell their homes because they have been taxed right out of it. We all have to live within our means and LPS needs to do the same during these difficult times. "
spelling and english classes were missed!! "
" I know that this is going to sound "off the wall" , But it looks like our school administrators are making mega-bucks while our teachers are earning near the bottom of the 50 states. WHY ??? "
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I agree with this 100% We need to cut the Administrators high wages and pay the theachers a lot more. That would be the best thing for the students. It seems to me the Lincoln Board of Education cares more about making sure the Administrators are happy and well paid, then the well fair of are childeren.
WHAT A MESS!!! "
LPS is a total failure and, in my opinion, amounts to an overpriced day care center for delinquents. "