Superintendent's salary is over the top

November 25, 2009 4:23 am

Spotsylvania School Superintendent Jerry Hill may be worth his pay, maybe not.

Any way you slice it, though, $234,000 a year is a lot of money. It's four or five times the compensation of a typical Spotsylvania teacher. It takes the property taxes of roughly 100 Spotsylvania homeowners to cover it.

It's about the same amount the secretary of defense makes. You be the judge.

While not wanting to pass judgment on Dr. Hill's level of compensation, I am appalled that he would be permitted to take advantage of an early retirement program that clearly is not intended for the superintendent of schools.

Is the county not going to replace him? Is the county going to replace him with someone who will earn one-half his salary?

According to The Free Lance-Star, Dr. Hill's plan to retire "early" will afford him some $35,000 per year for three years on top of his retirement pay.

That's $105,000 that won't be available to the school system; $105,000 that has to be covered by taxpayers; $105,000 that will do nothing to improve the financial or educational performance of Spotsylvania County schools.

Arnold Levine

Stafford