A recent Civil Grand Jury investigation shined a light on
excessive school district spending in the county but Gilroy’s
expenses lingered near the middle of the pack.
A recent Civil Grand Jury investigation shined a light on excessive school district spending in the county but Gilroy’s expenses lingered near the middle of the pack.
The investigation, titled “Who really benefits from education dollars? Hint: It’s not the students,” concluded that, despite devastating budget cuts looming on the horizon, districts are rewarding large salaries, bonuses and “extraordinary” benefit packages to superintendents and trustees and spending inordinate amounts of money on legal fees.
“Despite the draconian budget cuts facing the schools in the coming months, there appears to be little inclination on the part of the Districts to reduce or even limit the amounts paid to Superintendents/Chancellors, Assistant Superintendents, Presidents and Boards of Trustees,” the report read. “It is difficult to understand or support continuing these generous administrative expenses, while at the same time, teachers, staff and programs are being cut.”
The Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury that authored the report is an investigatory body comprised of 19 citizens selected by the court to serve a one-year term. Their primary responsibilities are to serve as civil watchdog, to look into citizen complaints and to hear criminal investigations.
Though some districts boasted flashy signing bonuses, interest-free, million dollar loans or hefty housing allowances – the superintendent of Saratoga Union School District receives $48,000 annually for housing for example, according to the grand jury’s findings – Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Deborah Flores pointed out that her contract with the district is by the book.
According to her contract, Flores earns an annual base salary of $187,500 – $4,500 below the average salary of the county’s 33 district superintendents and the county office of education’s superintendent. Additional benefits, including health insurance, a car allowance and other benefits boost Flores’ total compensation to $213,916.
Although her total compensation package trumps that of 19 of the other 34 superintendents in the county, Flores’ total cost per student in the district is $21.15 – ninth lowest in the county. And while the district is growing exponentially, Flores’ salary has remained stagnant since she was hired.
“That’s not why I came to Gilroy – for the salary or benefits,” she said. “Salary was secondary to me. I came here because the district and community were attractive. I wanted to work in a district where I feel I can make a difference. I will not accept a raise until employees are given one. It wouldn’t feel right to me.”
Last September, Flores declined to take a salary increase. Instead, since Flores doesn’t take advantage of the health benefits offered through the district, trustees rewarded her with about $12,000 in unspent health insurance premiums for her to use toward future health expenses.
As one of the trustees that helped draft Flores’ contract, Rhoda Bress could not recall anything in the contract she would call “extravagant,” she said.
“The superintendent’s is a very complex, academic and administrative position that takes a very unique set of skills,” she said. “I don’t know if the grand jury report quite caught that.”
The report also took a look at some of the perks trustees receive on the job and recommended cutting health benefits for trustees. In Gilroy, trustees may take advantage of health benefits through the district and receive a monthly stipend of $240 for their services – a stipulation laid out in the educational code – Flores said. The district spent $94,706 on trustee health benefits and $20,160 on trustee stipends in 2008-09, according to the grand jury’s findings.
However, Flores opposed cutting those health benefits.
“I don’t agree with that at all,” she said. “I don’t think board members are compensated enough for their work. For a small stipend and health benefits, I think the district is getting a really good deal. Theirs is one of the ultimate community service jobs.”
Though Bress does not take advantage of the district health benefits and donates her monthly $240 stipend back to the district, she said eliminating the modest benefits trustees receive would limit who might be able to take on time intensive role and “could be very shortsighted.”
Finally, the investigation examined district’s legal expenses and concluded that legal fees countywide exceeded $7 million in 2007-08, that districts are not leveraging their buying power with the most used law firms and that districts should turn to county counsel first for their legal needs.
“I can’t imagine county counsel could handle all of this,” Flores said.
GUSD spent nearly $300,000 on legal services over a two-year period beginning in 2007, according to the grand jury’s report. However, some districts paid more than $1 million during the same period.
