Editorial: Test scores versus salary

Monday, Aug. 8, 2005 | 8:49 a.m.

A base salary of $290,000 will be offered to the next superintendent of the Clark County School District. The School Board settled on that amount last week, despite a well-publicized suggestion by the head of the state university system that the salary should be as high as $600,000. Chancellor Jim Rogers said he believes a salary in that range is necessary in order to sign a top leader with a history of improving public school systems.

The former Clark County schools superintendent, Carlos Garcia, who resigned last month, earned a base salary of $212,000. The new figure represents an increase of nearly 37 percent, which School Board members say they feel should be enough incentive to attract outstanding candidates. The base salary does not include health benefits and perquisites such as housing and car allowances and performance bonuses.

The board's decision goes against the recommendation of consultants hired to conduct a national search for the new superintendent. They recommended a base salary of $300,000, as eight of the largest districts in the country are currently in the hunt for new leadership. Even smaller districts are offering as much as $275,000, they told the board. Our district is the fifth-largest in the country with more than 30,000 employees and nearly 300,000 students.

For a third or more of the students here, English is not their first language, which creates a huge barrier to learning. Given the nature of our economy, many thousands of students arrive in mid-semester and many thousands more depart in mid-semester, creating continuity problems. State funding is lower than in most all other states, which limits resources and innovations that could improve test scores. Classes are overcrowded because schools cannot be built fast enough to keep pace with growth. A severe teacher shortage forces heavy reliance on substitutes. These conditions have a bearing on students' perennially low test scores. With the right leader, however, everything could change. Foundering companies are willing to pay an incoming chief executive officer millions to do what will be asked of the new superintendent.

We believe the School Board should be open to offering more money, albeit with accountability standards written into the contract. If a candidate demonstrates the potential to reverse the negative trends of late -- low test scores, increasing numbers of failing schools, high dropout rates, falling teacher morale -- it would be wise to meet a higher salary requirement, even one of $600,000.