City schools chief again defers her raise
3/4/09
Columbus Dispatch
Simone Sebastian
Columbus schools leader Gene Harris has delayed taking a raise for the fourth time as superintendent, citing the bad economy and the district’s upcoming labor-contract negotiations.
The Columbus school board offered Harris, who has led the schools since 2001, a 4 percent raise. She requested that the increase be deferred until negotiations with the district’s largest unions are completed, likely this spring.
“I think this speaks volumes for the type of leadership that we have here,” said school board President Carol L. Perkins. “There’s probably a lot of CEOs that could learn a lesson from Dr. Harris.”
Harris received a 7 percent increase last year, bringing her base salary to more than $172,000. She also receives an annual $6,000 car allowance and $6,000 for expenses.
Harris oversees Ohio’s largest school district, with about 52,000 students. But her pay ranks behind salaries for Cleveland’s and Cincinnati’s superintendents — $260,000 and $203,820, respectively, according to Ohio School Boards Association data for the 2007-08 school year.
She previously has rejected increases because of the district’s tight budget or low academic rating that year.
“In these economic times, I think we all need to be prudent as we go forward with any discussion of additional compensation,” Harris said.
Two unions, one representing the district’s teachers and one representing bus drivers, custodians and other nonteaching staff members, have contracts that end Aug. 30. Members of both received 2.5 percent raises this school year.
When asked under what circumstances she would accept the raise, Harris said, “I’m not really sure. I just want to make sure that all of our staff is taken care of appropriately.”
She said the raise she accepts will not necessarily mirror that given to the unions. When she deferred raises in the past, she was not paid retroactively.
Voters approved an operating levy in November that brings in $77 million a year. Harris has said the money will be used to lengthen the school day and reduce elementary-class sizes by hiring more teachers, among other improvements.
The board tied the offered raise to Harris’ evaluation, which labels the superintendent’s performance as excellent. She received the praise for maintaining the district’s academic rating at “continuous improvement” — the equivalent of a C on the state’s scale — and maintaining a graduation rate of more than 70 percent during the 2007-2008 school year.
Columbus schools’ academic ranking has risen two levels from the lowest, “academic emergency,” under Harris. The graduation rate has increased from 56 percent to 70.6 percent, but fell slightly last year.
In Harris’ evaluation, the board noted communication and customer relations as areas needing improvement.
“We ask that you further address, set the highest standard for, and evaluate and hold staff accountable for the intentional best treatment of parents and citizens,” the board wrote. “In this era of choice, we cannot afford any parent or citizen to feel disenfranchised by our schools because of less than excellent relations.”
“I just want to make sure that all of our staff is taken care of appropriately.”
