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California School District Cuts Superintendent's Pay By 22.5 Percent

Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 00:00 CDT

Jun. 30--VICTORVILLE -- After nearly three hours in closed session, Victor Elementary School District board members cut Superintendent Ralph Baker's four-year contract by $270,000.

On hearing the decision, most of the crowd of teachers, parents and concerned citizens expressed disappointment in the board's unanimous decision to reduce the original $1.2 million contract by only 22.5 percent.

"I'm very disappointed. I strongly disagree with the statistics they gave to support their decision," teacher Carol Hunter-Inman said.

Baker's contract has been broken down by year. He will receive:

-- $185,000 in 2005

-- $200,000 in 2006

-- $220,000 in 2007

-- $185,000 in 2008, although he will only work 190 days, compared to 221 days in the previous years.

-- And he will receive a lump sum of $140,000 for his supplemental retirement.

Baker plans to retire in four years and his pension will be based on his highest paid year, the $220,000 in 2007. His pension will be between 70 and 80 percent of that amount, or $154,000 to $176,000 a year.

Baker will also receive health benefits through age 65.

"He's always said he was willing to work with us and he sure did," board member Ernie Moran said.

Other specifics of the contract were not available at press time. The tentative contract still awaits approval by the district's legal counsel before it can go into effect.

Board member Monte Worle, who voted against the original $1.2 million contract, said the revised contract will save the district upwards of a quarter-million dollars in health benefits alone over the next 20 years.

Others were still digesting the news.

"I'm still pondering it," said teacher David Hunter-Inman. "I would imagine they were under the threshold of outrageousness."

Carol Hunter-Inman said a coalition of interested community members that include teachers and parents will be meeting to discuss the situation further. A time and date hasn't been determined.

One of the options they plan to discuss is the possible recall of two or three board members, she said.

Wednesday's board meeting was attended by nearly 200 people. Although most who spoke during the public comment session asked for a renegotiation or termination of Baker's contract, there were also voices of support.

"I think he deserves it," teacher Paul Covert.

Covert broke down Baker's $150,000 a year raise on a per student basis, saying it only amounts "a stick of gum a day per student."

Former VESD board member Mike Davis said of the 11 superintendents he has worked with in his 29-year career, Baker was "by far the best."

"Ralph, all that is said against you will bounce off you like bullets off Superman, but as many of us remember the compound that weakened Superman was Kryptonite. This contract was your Krptonite," Davis said. "You are the one that can end the problem," he said, explaining that he hoped the contract would be renegotiated.

At midnight, the crowd was lingering outside Challenger School discussing the evening's events.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Daily Press - Victorville, California

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