Put school leaders to work

Laurie Rogers’ Roundtable column of Nov. 6, titled “Schools’ pay too high at the top,” was spot-on. However, the article doesn’t mention one very important fact. Spokane Public Schools administrators contribute nothing to classroom teaching. This makes their overpaid status even more absurd.

Of the 146 administrators with six-figure salaries, about 120 have teaching credentials and are state-certified yet do not strike a lick in the classroom.

The school board should remedy this in one of two ways. In addition to their administrative duties, administrators should either have to spend 25 percent of their time in the classroom teaching or take a 25 percent decrease in pay, their choice. This would include principals.

The next time there is a school bond or levy to burden us with yet more property taxes, voters should not fall again for the ridiculous cliché, “it’s for the children.” It is not. Rather, it is for these administrators and bureaucrats.

Taking about $10,000 per year per kid from us is not enough to get the job done, and taking more will not help. All it will do is feed this wasteful machine with more bureaucracy.

Larry Priano

Spokane