Idaho’s Democratic superintendent of schools provided a nice going-away present to her employees – bonuses totaling $120,098.

In an act of bureaucratic largesse, Democrat Marilyn Howard gave $960 apiece to 115 full-time employees and bonuses of $61 to $600 to the 19 part-time employees. Rejecting calls to take back the taxpayers’ money and spend it on teacher salaries, Howard said:

“These people worked very hard for me in the last eight years.”

Most of them probably did. However, other public workers, as well as those in the private sector, work hard, too, without the prospect of a bonus from a retiring elected official. Auto mechanics, like the workers in Howard’s office, benefit the public, too. The same can be said of classroom teachers, counselors and librarians. Yet, few of them will receive bonuses at all.

Under state law, an elected head of a state agency doesn’t need approval from anyone else to hand out bonuses. Agency heads regularly use savings in their budgets to award key personnel with merit bonuses. However, across-the-board bonuses, like those provided by Howard, occur less frequently. They send a mixed message to those who pick up the tab for a state elected official’s yuletide spirit – Idaho’s taxpayers. On one hand, Howard has approached the Legislature for the past eight years, hat in hand, asking for more money for education. Now, she’s handing out dollars to her staff as though they were candy canes. Taxpayers must wonder if Howard would be treating their money so cavalierly if she had to seek re-election.

In reality, the expenditure of $120,098 isn’t a major item in a state budget of more than $2 billion. It’s the mind-set behind the bonus spree that’s irritating. Howard was able to “save” the money for the bonuses this year from salaries, most of which came from a single employee who took an extended leave without pay. But the attitude of entitlement behind the gesture is bothersome: We saved it, so we’re going to spend it on ourselves rather than the public good.

State Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, the House budget committee co-chairwoman, was among those who questioned the appropriateness of the bonuses: “Why would you deserve a bonus because your boss is retiring?”

An argument can be made that Idaho state employees are underpaid and deserve bonuses whenever they can get them. In 2005, most state workers received a bonus of 1.1 percent, or about $415, instead of a pay increase. The year before, they got a 2 percent increase after their wages had been frozen for two years.

Creative department heads have used department savings for merit pay in an attempt to keep important employees from jumping to better-paying jobs in the private sector or in other states. But that wasn’t the issue with two-term Superintendent Howard. Most, if not all, of her exempt staff will be looking for new jobs next month, when Republican Tom Luna takes control of the office. Her bonuses were nothing more than wasteful spending – at taxpayer expense.