Here is an entertaining column by Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times. At least, it would be entertaining if the subject-matter were not so serious.
Writes Lopez:
I had lunch with Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. David Brewer earlier this year at a restaurant near downtown Los Angeles and almost choked. Not on the food, but the prices.
I wasn’t that hungry, fortunately, so I had the Chinese chicken salad, which cost an eye-popping $28.95. Brewer wasn’t famished either, so he just had an appetizer, the crab cakes, and those ran $16.95.
Over lunch, he defended himself against widespread criticism that he’s the wrong man for the job and has been a big disappointment. But instead of talking about students, he went on and on about building a “matrix” system and “vertical” as well as “horizontal articulation.” By the end of it I had an expensive stomachache.
The L.A. Times picked up the tab, but Brewer had chosen the restaurant and he seemed to know his way around there, so I started wondering if his tastes always run so high-end.
The column goes on to describe Brewer’s annual $45K expense account and $3,000 monthly housing allowance, on top of a $300,000 per year salary.
Here are some noteworthy numbers closer to home: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools superintendent Peter Gorman gets $320,000 per year, and Wake County Public Schools superintendent Del Burns gets $312,000, according to the N&O.
