Fiscal responsibility is needed during the PSD search for superintendent
For too many years, the Puyallup School District has overpaid incumbent Superintendent Tony Apostle.
With an annual salary of $242,703, plus an additional $41,280 in insurance and other benefits, PSD superintendent’s salary is greater than Tacoma’s, the second largest school district in the state.
With Tony Apostle’s retirement coming this June, and the incoming superintendent selection yet to be made, the school board now has the opportunity to correct this long overdone misappropriation of school funding.
The state legislature is still wrangling to find another 1.5 billion dollars in budget cuts, and the PSD is facing a shortfall for the 2012-2013 school year, of anywhere from 9 million to 12.5 million dollars in operating revenue. Given these projected funding shortfalls, it is imperative that the salary negotiations with the selected replacement superintendent, be in line with these fiscal restraints. The PSD School Board has in the past, shown itself to be out of step with the economic morass most of us are wading through, offering Tony Apostle raises when all raises were suspended.
The Puyallup School District held a special board meeting on Jan. 23, to screen applications for the Superintendent Search Observer Panel. Minutes from that meeting were not available on the PSD Web site, as of this writing. It is hoped that those selected for the panel have an opportunity to give the needed public input, and show the fiscal responsibility necessary, once the compensation issue reaches the negotiation table.
Andy Asmussen
Puyallup
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Letters to the Editor, Feb. 1
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