Vallas given $30,000 raise March 29, 2001 BY ROSALIND ROSSI EDUCATION REPORTER The Chicago Board of Education rewarded CEO Paul Vallas with a $30,000 raise to $180,000, but Vallas said he will accept only a $176,000 salary. The 20 percent salary hike, unanimously approved Wednesday night, still has Vallas earning far less than other big city school chiefs and several superintendents in the state. "I'll take what the teachers got," Vallas said, referring to the six teacher pay raises since 1995 that total 16 percent. Vallas said that compounded increase, after five years of self-imposed pay freezes, brings his annual salary to $176,000, 16th highest of the state's school superintendents. The raise is retroactive to July 2000. It comes just weeks after Mayor Daley chastised the school system for not making enough progress in raising reading scores. Since then, mayoral aides proposed a reading summit, and School Board officials have been helping to plan the event, scheduled for next month. Last year, Vallas' salary of $150,000 tied him for 80th statewide, along with the superintendent of Leyden Community High School District 212 in Franklin Park, a spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Education said. The top superintendent's salary in the state last year, $253,876, went to the head of DuPage High School District 88 in Villa Park. Chicago's 435,000 students make it not only the largest school district in the state but the second-largest employer in Illinois and the nation's third-largest school district. School Board President Gery Chico said the salary was similar to that of the chancellor of Chicago City Colleges, and "there aren't many higher" among city government salaries. In preparation for Wednesday's meeting, School Board member Avis LaBelle said she asked for salary information on superintendents of large urban districts nationwide. Those include New York City, where the head of the nation's largest school system makes $245,000 a year and has access to a brownstone residence, and No. 2 Los Angeles, whose superintendent makes $250,000 a year but can also net additional annual bonuses of up to $100,000. Alberto Carvalho, spokesman for Miami's Dade County school district, was surprised at Vallas' pay. "We're talking about Chicago Public Schools. . . . When we're talking about [running] a large urban school system, we're talking about a daunting task," Carvalho said. "It sounds like you're underpaying your superintendent." Said Chico, "Historically, this position has paid less than a lot of other places, but with today's action, we take a significant step in setting the appropriate compensation." In 1996, at raise time, Vallas said he was freezing his salary for three years. He rejected a pay raise last year. Not this time. "I gotta go home at night," Vallas said. "This time I'll accept it or I'll be sleeping in the garage for a year--and the garage is not heated." -- This is the CPS Science Teacher List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
