Janesville Teachers Point To Super's Pay Package

Tweet

After reading the Gazette front-page article about the current negotiations (or lack thereof) between the Janesville School Board and teachers union, I had to do a double-take of the headlines. Clearly the same game is being played by both sides, but of course the Gazette portrays only the teachers union as hostile and unreasonable.
Janesville Teachers Union plays Waiting Game
School Board Hits Negative Chord With Threat Of Mediation

JG Excerpt:
The board had threatened to seek mediation if the JEA didn't respond to the board's July offer on salary and benefits.

Obviously, salary and benefits are at the heart of the matter. So who could blame the teachers union from using accounting figures from the Department of Public Instruction which showed the district's superintendent receiving a 14% increase on paper. The district pointed out that the comparison was wrong because the base figure left out benefits while the projected figure was for total compensation including benefits. Comparing apples to apples, the district explained the superintendent's total compensation increase was 3.8%.

JG Excerpt:
Evert's 2005 salary was $122,170. The DPI reported his 2006 salary as $139,670, a 14 percent increase. However, the 2006 figure includes an annuity of $13,000 and a life insurance payment of $1,500, while the 2005 figure included only salary, Bunton said. Evert's actual salary for 2006 was $125,170, an increase of 2.5 percent.

The Janesville Gazette then posted a wonky chart showing the superintendent's salary increase including the percent of increase for his total package. But what they didn’t explain was this. That in 2006 his total compensation was $139,670 of which $14,500 covered all benefits excluding salary. Total package averaged out to a 3.8% increase. Since his next raise will also contain a 3.8% increase on $139,670, his projected total compensation for the next year will be $144,977 of which $128,650 is salary. That leaves $16,327 for benefits which is a 12.6% increase in benefits over the previous year.

JG Excerpt :
Bunton provided The Janesville Gazette a detailed accounting of Evert's salary and benefits from 2004 through 2009.

Then why wasn't a detailed account of the superintendent's total compensation published? The frontpage story on the negotiations including the “detailed” account of the superintendent’s salary package made no reference to health care or health care insurance in word or substance. What the newspaper presented had enough holes in it to make Swiss cheese blush. But enough small talk.

So for 2006-2007, the superintendent's salary is $128,650 – a 2.78% increase over the previous year of $125,170. His benefits package will rise from $14,500 to $16,327, a 12.6% increase - together arriving at the all compensation increase of 3.8%.

But who's counting?