School superintendents' perks & their paychecks
Though superintendents get paid vacations, some chose money over time off
While Plainfield School District cut jobs to save money, the school board gave Superintendent John Harper thousands of dollars for skipping vacation days.
The district cut 86 jobs. Harper got $10,000 for not taking 10 vacation days.
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That move bumped his base pay to about $247,000 for the 2008-09 school year.
But what is not so well-known to the public are the other perks Harper and other school superintendents receive, a Herald-News investigation reveals.
Over the past five years, Harper has received more than $38,000 for unused vacation.
Harper's contract isn't the only one that has allowed him to pad his salary, the investigation found.
Out of the 41 superintendents in Will and Grundy counties, 14 of them, or about 34 percent, receive the same perk.
And that's information not readily made public to the taxpayers footing the bill.
As an incentive to keep Superintendent Mike Sass in the district, New Lenox School Board offered him two incentives -- a $747,000 life insurance policy and deferred compensation of $333,000 plus interest over six years.
Fairmont School District Superintendent Doris Langon receives a 10 percent commission from the grants she writes for her 301 students.
So just how unusual are these extra perks? Depends on who you ask.
Plainfield School Board President Rod Westfall says the board was told the money Harper receives for unused vacation is standard practice in superintendent contracts.
Sass of New Lenox had the same reply when asked why he was receiving a $5,000 stipend for attending meetings, which is a common job function of his office.
But according to The Herald-News investigation, in both cases those perks are not standard.
The information showed that exchanging unused vacation for cash bumped up superintendents' salaries in a wide range of amounts -- from $1,291 for Michael Early of Richland School District in Crest Hill to $18,522.23 for John Asplund of Reed-Custer School District in Braidwood.
However, it was not in Asplund's contract to get paid for unused vacation. A state law, the Wage and Collection Act, allowed for the payment, said David Requa, who replaced Asplund as superintendent this year.
The law requires payment for all earned vacation when an employee leaves.
The number of unused vacation days a superintendent can cash in varies from five days to 20.
Gary Peck, superintendent of District 92 in Lockport, can get paid for all 20 days but he only cashed in $1,494 worth of unused vacation for the 2008-2009 school year.
He said he was also without assistant superintendents during some of that time so he was doing double duty while finding a replacement. For 18 months, the district had an interim superintendent for business, who worked part time.
"Twenty-five vacations days is not realistic to me, and the board honored that," Harper said.
Because Harper has lost so much vacation, the board gave him a bank of 25.5 days that he can exchange for money, said Ron Kazmar, past school board president. The board increased the amount of unused vacation days that can be exchanged from 10 days to 20 days in the last three years of Harper's new contract, which expires in June 2014.
In his first year, Troy Superintendent Don White received 20 vacation days, but only took 1.5 vacation days.
"I rolled over 10 days and I was reimbursed for 8.5 of those days," he wrote in an e-mail.
He received $5,312 for those 10 days, which included contributions to his pension. In June, White received $6,945 for 10 days of unused vacation.
Not everyone gets to cash in so easily.
In the 2007-2008 school year, Crete-Monee Superintendent John Rodgers received $22,126. in exchange for unused vacation and $12,643.60 the following year.
But the district decided to end this perk and his vacation is now on a "use it or lose it" basis, accounting supervisor Robert Groos said.
Phyllis Wilson, superintendent of Joliet Grade School District, gets 25 vacation days each year. She can accumulate 20 unused vacation days annually, but she is not paid for any unused vacation leave, according to the contract.
In Elwood School District, Superintendent Ronald Kanzulak received $17,145 for 22 unused vacation days, which he could accumulate at five days each year.
Kanzulak started his first year as superintendent for Elwood in 1998 with a base pay of $70,728. As stated in his contract, Kanzulak's salary was boosted by 20 percent in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years when he announced he was going to retire. However, he didn't retire until June 2009, earning a base pay of $174,509. His total compensation was $242,957.
Fairmont's Langon, who gets 25 days of vacation each year, will also receive post-retirement cash out of cumulative vacation days.
In Peotone School District, Superintendent Kevin Carey receives 20 vacation days. The unused vacation days can accumulate as sick leave, according to his contract. Last school year, he turned 10 vacation days into sick days, he said. Carey also receives 15 sick days per year, and can accumulate to 254 days. Administrators and teachers can use sick days as credit for early retirement.
For example, most districts give their superintendents and families full medical, dental and vision benefits without asking for an employee contribution.
But in lieu of health insurance, Superintendent Kent Bugg of Coal City opted for the cash instead.
"When I was hired, the board told me that I could either take the family insurance, which costs the district $16,731, or I could take a cash payment in lieu of insurance of an even $16,000," Bugg wrote in an e-mail. "I chose the cash payment, which is spread out over 26 pays, Therefore, it is not an annuity, and it is not a bonus because if I took the insurance, the board would be spending that money anyway."
Taxpayers also can get stuck footing tuition bills.
At Morris Grade School, without a full-time superintendent, the board struck a deal with then school board President Teri Shaw so she could work as district administrator while going to college for a certificate that would allow her to serve as superintendent.
She received $22,000 for tuition. Meanwhile, interim Superintendent Dennis Broniecki filled in, so the district paid both salaries for one year.
Shaw is now superintendent this year, earning a base pay of $90,000 after Broniecki filled in for two years. Next school year, she will earn $135,000.
Superintendent Paul Swanstrom gets a 6 percent salary hike for each year for three years until his contract expires in June 2011 with the Joliet Township High School District. In years past, Swanstrom was able to buy back unused vacation, but not in this new contract.
If school districts exceed 6 percent in earnings that are counted by the Teachers Retirement System, the district has to pay a penalty, said Rich Pagliaro, assistant superintendent of business and personnel.
Under state law, school districts have to pay an additional contribution to the Teachers' Retirement System if they grant salary increases above 6 percent in the years used by TRS to calculate a member's pension benefits. For every dollar in salary paid in excess of 6 percent that is used to calculate pension benefits, the districts could pay between $2 and $2.60 for the typical retiree, depending on their age or service credit.
Pagliaro said the district tries to be straightforward with its taxpayers. He realizes other districts add to the earnings through vacation buybacks and other perks.
"They find ways to go through loopholes. We don't ... he's got 6 percent (increase on his salary) and 6 percent on his annuity so there's nothing there for him to buy back," Pagliaro said.
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