District must go further than pay freezes
Public Forum:
The article published in the Oct. 15 issue of NOW, said the Muskego Norway School Board has frozen the superintendent's pay at $144,200. However, the article failed to mention that he also gets $39,335 in fringe benefits (source Wis DPI).
In case you don't know, there are at least 18 other Muskego-Norway School District administrators who, including the superintendent, will receive combined wages and benefits of $2,447,360 for the 2009-2010 school year.
Besides their respective wages and benefits they receive 25 days - five full weeks of vacation pay. Plus, they receive all of the school calendar observed holidays, too.
To recap: more than $2.4 million is spent in the Muskego-Norway School District before one minute of teaching is provided for the students.
There are other people on the school district payroll who do not teach either, one of whom is the Performing Arts Center manager/technical director. The PAC requires a special manager for a facility that according to District Business Manager Scott Ecker, has earned through Oct. 6, a total of $44,506 since 2007. I really doubt this amount even comes close to covering the wages and benefits the PAC manger/technical director has received in that same time period. You may recall the comments published in the former Muskego Sun, which were made by members of the school administration and School Board regarding how the PAC would pay for itself by booking big name talents and collecting all of the associated admissions and fees. It's pretty obvious to me the big name talents haven't been booked here yet.
The bottom line is there are a lot of people in Muskego, Wisconsin and the nation who have no job, no benefits, no paid vacation and their dreams have been crushed. The state of Wisconsin has cut state school aid by more than $1.3 million, or 6.24 percent for next year's budget.
For those of us who pay property taxes in Muskego, gear up. The school administration and School Board are going to raise our taxes just like every other year.
If I am supposed to feel sorry because the superintendent's wages are frozen, I do not!
Michael Kuwitzky
Muskego
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