[Vision2020] MSD Salaries and Jack Wenders' advertisement

[Saundra Lund]

Dan wrote:
". . . I see his point.  He talks of "trimming the fat" within the MSD to
see if money can be saved before floating the levy."

Well, shucky-darn, Dan, I agreed with the rest of your post  :-)  So, I
really don't want to pick on you, but . . . 

My initial reaction to the above part of your post was:  OK, so taking at
face value Wenders' figure of $15 million annual compensation for MSD
employees, then what . . . we just don't pay anyone for two years???

I know that sounds flip, but really:  how does looking at salaries of
individual MSD employees tell us if there's any fat to be trimmed that can
help our facilities issues?  Or, am I missing something obvious (which
wouldn't be the first time, that's for sure)?  Salaries, I think, make up
the biggest chunk of the budget, which is as it should be, right,
particularly in the field of public education?

I'll share something else now that I've looked at the ad more closely:  I
was very surprised, and not pleasantly, at how *little* some of those who
have made a *huge* difference in my daughter's educational experience make,
benefits and all.  I'm one of "those" who believes that administrators in
the schools, just as is often the case in the private sector, are not
uncommonly overpaid while those doing the hands-on work are sometimes not
adequately compensated.  But, I recognize that *sometimes,* it's the
administrators' skills that create the exceptional work environment in which
miracles are possible.

Nontheless, I was quite disappointed at how little some of the most valuable
(IMHO) team members make  :-(

But, the vote on Tuesday *isn't* about that, it's about *facilities,* and
I'm still not seeing how the salaries of individuals factors in.  Even if we
were to somehow ruthlessly cut salaries across the board by a whopping 10%
(and lose our excellent teachers in the process), it would still take . . .
what . . . three+ years to come up with the money to renovate just *one*
elementary school, wouldn't it?


Hopefully Respectfully Polite,
Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
Edmund Burke