Illinois public schools superintendent Griffith pay and perks $430,000 show why Illinois is broke

Even Obama only makes $400,000 in salary.

3/7/11, "Lake Forest (Illinois) School Chief’s Extravagant Compensation Exceeds Governor," Nancy Thorner

"Not only is Mr. Griffith the #2 highest paid Superintendent in the State of Illinois in cash compensation, he has an

• extravagant benefit package to match.

Harry Griffith certainly knows how to negotiate a contract. On top of his lavish cash compensation, Griffith has a contract to receive benefits and perquisites bringing his total compensation for the 2010-11 school year to over $430,000 Griffith oversees 3,800 students in the 5 schools of Lake Forest Districts 67 and 115. According to the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Harry Griffith’s compensation is more than the Naperville Superintendent who oversees

• 22 schools and 18,000 students.

His compensation package is also more than the Chicago and Milwaukee school chiefs,

• AND the governor of Illinois!

Not only is Mr. Griffith the #2 highest paid Superintendent in the State of Illinois right now in terms of cash compensation, he has an extravagant benefit package to match. The specific provisions as detailed in

• Griffith’s employment contract are outlined below:

Annual Bonus: Harry Griffith’s Superintendent contract has a provision that gives the two Lake Forest Boards of Education the sole discretion to pay the Superintendent a bonus of any amount, at any time for fulfilling the goals and indicators set out at the beginning of the year. Griffith has received bonuses every year of up to $19,000. What civil servant and public official is entitled to bonuses in the first place and just for doing their job?

Teacher’s Pensions: Beyond the usual state mandated teacher’s pension contribution, Mr. Griffith negotiated to have an additional $30,000 annually to be contributed on his behalf into the annual Teacher Retirement System, commensurate with the generous salary he receives. As a result he will receive upwards of $260,000

• every year of his life from the state pension program
  

• once he retires next year.

Annuity: On top of the very generous teacher pension contribution the Boards make in full on Griffith’s behalf, the Boards also pay an annual contribution of $25,000 per year to an annuity or deferred compensation plan to augment the teacher retirement fund. Is the annual $260,000 plus that Griffith will receive from the State pension system after he retires not enough?

Health/Dental Insurance: Griffith and immediate family get free health and dental coverage totaling about $20,000 per year. Griffith makes no contribution of any kind himself, while teachers are asked to pay between 26% and 78% of the total cost for their health and dental insurance.

Life Insurance: The Board provides Griffith a term life insurance policy with a death benefit of $1 million which Griffith himself

• makes no contribution toward.

Vacation/Sick: Griffith’s contract provides 27 days of vacation PLUS regular holidays afforded other employees—that’s over six weeks of vacation time. He receives 13 sick days — almost 3 weeks over six weeks of vacation time. He receives 13 sick days –almost— which accumulate and are carried forward from year to year. If Griffith did not take any sick time during his tenure in Lake Forest, he would have accumulated one full year of paid sick leave by next year.

Purchase of Service Credits: Griffith worked in the Texas school system before coming to Illinois. The credits he accumulated in the Texas teacher retirement system were allegedly purchased by Lake Forest for $19,000, according to sources at the Family Taxpayers Organization.

House Loan: When moving from Texas, the District 67 Board agreed to loan Griffith $75,000 to purchase a home in Lake Forest. The Board of Education has “forgiven” or written off increments over the last 10 years with the final “write-off” of $12,500 during the current 2010-11 school year, one year prior to Griffith’s retirement. Griffith sold his Lake Forest home and now has a residence in Highwood and yet the loan is still being

• forgiven by the Board.

Car/Travel: The Board provides Superintendent Griffith with a paid automobile lease for a car of his choice. Not only does he get a free car, all gasoline purchased in Lake Forest is free of charge no matter the purpose or destination—business or personal. All maintenance of this car and related insurance is provided by the school district and taxpayers of Lake Forest. Cost of gasoline, maintenance and insurance benefits Griffith receives are

• not included in the compensation figures above.

Evaluations: Every year, the Boards evaluate Mr. Griffith based on his progress in achieving “District Goals” as set forth each year by the Board of Education. Interestingly, when circumstances beyond anyone’s control prevent attainment of his goals, the contract permits the Board and Griffith to delete or modify such goals.

• If we can be this lenient in our expectations of our school chief,

what would happen if we set the same expectations in the academic performance of our students?

These “performance” goals are apparently the same annual Board of Education Goals established each Spring. Since the goals are reviewed as part of Griffith’s annual performance appraisal, the community is NOT privy to a report on the progress or success of the schools because this review falls under

• the protected confidentiality of personnel matters.
  

Although this assessment relates to the substantial business and function of our schools, by agreeing to this term, the Board of Education is not acting in the best interests of the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff community which calls into question

• transparency at its most basic level.

This is the second installment in a series of articles to heighten public awareness of the activity of the Lake Forest Boards of Education.

• To read installment 1, click on this link: http://triblocal.com/lake-forest/community/stories/2011/03/superintendent-harry-griffiths-lavish-salary/

As a Liberty Leader at the Illinois Policy Institute, I am following through with the state-wide transparency project of opening up government to allow the sunshine in. As such I have opted to look at the

• issue of transparency in my own local Lake Forest School Districts 67 & 115.Source: District 115 and 67 websites–

http://www.lfhsorg/board/sb2270.html and http://www.lf67.org/district/finances/sb2270.html and Performance Based Superintendent’s Contract, Harry D. Griffith, 2010 through 2012."

• chart from Nancy J. Thorner, via Gateway Pundit

"No wonder Illinois is broke." via GWP

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