This APS board member says ‘no’ to chief’s pay raise
Instead of closing the gap between the district’s lowest and highest paid staff, we’re increasing it
The year 2019 brought a lot of change to New Mexico, including a new governor and significant changes in the political makeup of the Legislature. Our elected officials tout these changes as reforms intended to improve the lives of our most struggling citizens, and unfortunately, that includes our teachers and school employees.
I applaud our civic leaders in their efforts to increase pay and bring much-needed stability to the lives of those who are so integral to our children’s education. However, I’m disturbed by the blatant disregard Albuquerque Public Schools and their operatives have toward public funds and how they spend other people’s money — your money.
In their effort to close the pay gap and adequately fund and operate the largest school district in New Mexico, they seem to have forgotten who they serve and to whom they answer.
Following the blistering defeat of the two mill levy questions and bond proposal in early 2019, you’d think our leaders would be more aware of public opinion. Ignoring the voters’ mandate for fiscal responsibility and apparently usurping the board’s authority as it pertains to their sole employee to “employ and fix the superintendent’s salary” the superintendent (Raquel Reedy) instead has apparently settled on her own salary terms of a 6% to 11% pay increase, which she “will accept.”
What’s even more concerning is it appears our board president and APS director of communication don’t seem to be on the same page as to whether the superintendent’s salary is increased automatically or subject to review by the board. If the people who hired you, the APS board, and key district staff aren’t on the same page, how then does the superintendent deserve a raise?
What makes this more painful is that the superintendent’s proposed raise far outpaces that provided to teachers and support staff, many of whom had to weather much tougher financial situations during the recent budget crisis.
The current board and administration faced the backlash of public opinion in February when they asked for an increased tax burden on already thinned pocketbooks. Yet, just five months later they want to justify handing a substantial pay increase to a leader who’s been at the helm of this important public institution for almost four years and has yet to pull our district out of 49th or 50th place in education rankings.
It’s the same institution that still hasn’t answered the public’s queries as to why we have a superintendent making over $300,000 a year with a projected annual salary of between $263,650 and $276,187 in addition to $50,000-$60,000 a year in supplemental income. At retirement, the superintendent will be receiving approximately $185,000 per year for the rest of her life, paid for by you, the taxpayer. Compare that to retired teachers I know who receive on average about $30,000 per year.
What’s more, reports indicate the superintendent, speaking of her pay raise, “will donate some of it to APS’ nonprofit, the APS Education Foundation,” which is a tax write-off that many of our employees cannot fathom claiming. It appears that instead of closing the gap between the district’s lowest and highest paid staff, we’ve increased that disparity.
If this raise goes through, the superintendent will make as much as our governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state — combined. Yet 70% of APS students cannot read at grade level, 80% aren’t proficient in math and 30% of our students don’t graduate.
Why, people ask, is the superintendent’s salary and subsequent increases not tied to the district’s academic growth and graduation rate, the output? That’s a great question, yet to be answered. After all, APS is in the business of education, in the business of challenging our students to achieve at the highest levels, which we all know they are more than capable of doing.
I vote no to such a massive pay increase on the backs of taxpayers, and more importantly on the backs of your children. What do you think?