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Retired educators receive more than $100,000 annually

June 29, 2011

As public pension reform takes center stage in Sacramento, the number of newly retired school administrators earning more than $100,000 a year jumped 650 percent between 2005 and 2011. [Sacramento Bee]

Six-figure payouts to retired educators increased from 700 to 5,400, according to a review of data from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

School administrators will earn more during their retirement than most Californians will make during their working careers, the Bee reported.

Booming administrator salaries have contributed to the trend. On average, school administrators earned $168,000 in base pay last year, roughly 56 percent more than they did 10 years ago, according to data from the California Department of Education.

CalSTRS serves teachers and administrators in the state’s community colleges and school districts, and is the nation’s second-largest public pension fund behind the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which, as reported by The Bee earlier this month, also has seen a surge in $100,000 pensions.

Most CalSTRS retirees are teachers, and the average annual benefit for those who retired last year is $49,000.

The pension has its share of financial problems as other public pension systems but the difficulties are due primarily as a result of investment losses, broad pay raises and boosts in benefits, not six-figure retirement salaries.

Californians for Pension Reform reports that the following pensioners from San Luis Obispo County school districts receive more than $100,000 annually. Here are the monthly and annual breakdowns by district:

Atascadero Unified

James L. Stecher    $10,536.56   –   $126,438.72

Coast Unified

Denis M. Declercq    $8,966.09   –  $107,593.08

Lucia Mar Unified

Sidney C. Richison   $10,585.38   –  $127,024.56

Sharon R. Roemer   $8,369.13   –  $100,429.56

Paso Robles Joint Unified

John D. Morse   $9,456.80   –  $113,481.60

Edwin A. Railsback   $8,936.68   –  $107,240.16

Patrick J. Sayne   $9,031.52  –   $108,378.24

Pleasant Valley Joint Union Elementary

C.L. Cartwright   $9,946.72   –  $119,360.64

Julie A. Cavaliere    $11,151.11   –  $133,813.32

Patrick Fitzgerald   $8,793.95   –  $105,527.40

Howard Hamilton   $11,863.84  –   $142,366.08

James R. Voss   $9,103.52   –  $109,242.24

San Luis Coastal Unified

Nancy E. Howland   $10,238.79   –  $122,865.48

Mary A. Matakovich   $12,276.04   –  $147,312.48

Edward Valentine   $19,675.61   –  $236,107.32

Peter J. Zotovich   $10,132.79  –   $121,593.48

San Luis Obispo County Community College District

Lewis L. Bedell    $8,467.35   –  $101,608.20

Susan M. Dressler   $10,908.86  –   $130,906.32

William L. Fairbanks    $10,221.28   –  $122,655.36

Randall D. Gold    $8,897.40  –   $106,768.80

Warren E. Hansen   $8,539.60  –   $102,475.20

Allan R. Marshall   $8,908.43  –   $106,901.16

Mary N. Parker   $9,961.02   –  $119,532.24

San Luis Obispo County Office of Education

John D. Barnhart   $11,577.86  –   $138,934.32

Jeanne E. Dukes    $8,632.46   –  $103,589.52

Templeton Unified School District

Richard G. Duke    $8,573.15   –  $102,877.80

 


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Today, after 30 years of gorging on money borrowed and stolen from future generations, the bloated “public sector” finally faces the same economic realities as the other 80% of us. And they don’t like it one bit. The whole lazy army of them blubber that it isn’t fair that just because their political masters swindled the public and gave all the money and then some to bribe all and sundry public union members and useless “administrators” they might have to live on a smaller pension. Like the private sector does. They have my full sympathy, of course.


“But the only reason you can read this is because a teacher taught you how”, is the battle cry. Bollocks to that.


I’m not a great fan of the State educating ANY child. I certainly do not believe it represents good value when the exam system produces millions of shuffling idiots incapable of finding gainful employment but gleefully clutching a “diploma”, so an army of yet more state “specialists” can be employed to counsel the little darlings when their anger management techniques, taught aged 5, cannot cope with being skint, stupid and futureless.


I have children. I sat with them, read with them, worked with them, encouraged them, imparted wisdom on them, nurtured their intellects, fed their ambitions, opened their minds, instructed them in life, all its failures and successes. I conversed with them, poured over dictionaries with them, pointed and showed them the world around them, explained their rights and their responsibilities to them. I cared for them because I am their father, it is my job.


If the State wants to assume all of the above, then state-employed teachers are the very WORST people to do it. All they have been taught is dependency, entitlement, compliancy, subservience, uniformity and slavery, the very WORST education a child can receive.


My children deserved better. So I made sure they received it. They thrived in spite of the State, something we all need to learn. But don’t expect to be taught it by anyone employed by the State.


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Excellent comment.


I, too, have children. So far this summer, they have learned more in mathematics (in one month) than the last two years in the finest public elementary school in San Luis Obispo. My 10-year old is beginning algebra, and my 12-year old is learning geometry (pythagorean, etc.). Who is teaching them? I am coaching them through the Khan Academy for a couple of hours each day. This is a great place to learn mathematics. I’m also starting on reading & writing this week.


I think the system has failed. Not only the children, but the teachers themselves. There is a CLEAR and STUNNING difference between a 20-something teacher, and one that is over 20 years in. I do not know what the universities are teaching “educators” but it appears to be all wrong. Don’t get me wrong, they are all nice and friendly and work hard; but the young girls (don’t see any men) who are being called teachers just do not seem to have a clue sometimes.


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How big is Pleasant Valley School District? They seem to have topped the chart of $100K retirees.


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Is a $100,000 per year retirement a lot? You bet. Do I fault the teachers or the folks collecting their retirements now? It’s not their fault. They signed on as a teacher and those benefits were part of the package. Now that the economy is in the toilet, everybody wants to hang a teacher, county worker, state worker for making more money than they do. When things are going well, small businesses can make as much money as they are capable of. If they have a good business and are good and marketing, sky is the limit of how much money they can make. Teachers make the same whether the economy is good or bad. There’s just a lot more attention on government workers now since the economy is bad.


With that said, do I think that some government workers are over paid? You bet. Are all government workers overpaid? Nope.


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The teachers aren’t the ones collecting the 100K it’s the admin.


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check it out… there are many not administrators. However, there are far too many bloated administrations


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pasowino, you are so correct!!!! Nobody realizes that fact about how the private sector can make more money when the economy is good. Private workers can get raises and bonuses. Government workers cannot, everybody forgets that. And as you stated, everybody forgets that those people listed above have been paying into that retirement system for their entire career. If a private sector employee put the same amount into a retirement account every pay check, things would be pretty much equal. Why doesn’t anybody realize that?


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If you seriously think that public sector employees do not make more during the boom times, then I’ll have to assume you have been living under a rock for the last 20 years.


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Excuse me as i leave the room to vomit.

Once again the fleecing of the average working guy.


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I forgot. Look at all of these over payed administrators? What do they all have in common?

They are all failures, none of them have been successfull with administering school finances with the exception of their retirtements.


The good old boy club at its best.


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This IS NOT the “good old boy” club. The “good old boy” club is composed of old school private citizens who are property and local business owners. You guys didn’t like the good old boys running things, so you started bringing these people in, lots of them from out of area. It’s the fault of people who constantly seek government regulation and administration of everything.


All that stuff sounds great at first, but like many things in life such extensive governing is a paradox, and this is the result.


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What do you want to be, the vast bulk of their time (and our money) is used for meetings? A good friend of mine is upper management in SB Co., and he really thinks he is busy and has a lot of work on his plate. It blows me away how some “management” types truly convince themselves they are laboring and earning their pay.


Try running a small business. You’ll quickly appreciate those “big meetings” for just what they are: time-wasters for make-workers. Well, the majority of them, anyway.


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What do you want to bet**


(typo)


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I agree, they are in meetings all day while the lower paid are our teachers, who are actually making a difference for our kids.


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I think that the far bigger problem is that there are way too many administrators. Anyone who has worked in a big company knows that the way to get your salary and perks increased is to build an empire – which means get as many highly-paid people as possible working for you and get control of the biggest budget possible. Those are key factors in deciding how much someone gets paid.


Although I have never worked for a government agency, I have no doubt that things there work pretty much the same way. So, we have huge empires of school administrators who do little or nothing to improve education and, in many cases, make it worse by coming up with ridiculous new education “methods” and approaches that do more harm than good. In order to find money in the education budget to sustain all the empires, school districts have cut out teachers (much lower-paid, of course).


Once upon a time, not so long ago, a school district was run by a superintendent, who had a secretary and maybe another helper or two, depending on district size. A typical school had a principal, teachers, a nurse, a secretary a custodian and, if was a high school or junior high, a couple of guidance counselors. That was IT, and it worked just fine. The kids got far better educations, and did NOT have to pay for their own school supplies.


Every field of endeavor, it seems, has its greedy empire builders who care about little other than getting as much money as possible for themselves. The empire builders have wrought havoc on the education system and will continue to do so unless people get smart and understand that the TEACHERS are the key players in the system and deserve the highest salaries. The administrators are pretty much all excess baggage.


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Agree again. And why dont they lay off the a few high paid teachers and keep all the lower paid ones. Which from my view would mean less layoffs for teachers and more teachers per school!


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Once again our TQueen hits it right on. Though some administration of school affairs is necessary they are really in support of the only purpose for schools-teaching our kids to be whole people. It is shameful what our teachers get in relation to others in society (various admin people, junk bond wall street boneheads and other parasites).


Teachers should be paid way more, and held to high standards. When I was at Cal Poly there was a teacher who was famous for his lousy teaching but he was retained because he had tenure. I wonder how he got tenure and I don’t think it should be so powerful as to overrule poor teaching.


Because of economic conditions (both parents working) and the overall laziness of many parents our poor teachers have to be cops, teachers and parents-way too much for too little pay with too little authority. The limitations (such as never touch a child) on discipline are ridiculous. I recently met a high school teacher who said he had no problems with his students. I was amazed, and upon reflection he told me he breaks the law every day with his clients. He doesn’t take any guff and his kids respect him and perform in class. Well, right on! All teachers should not only be given this latitude but should be taught to lay down the law and teach.


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Once again the admin is top heavy. This is a$$ backwards. The teachers are once again getting the shaft while the admin are laughing at the tax payers all the way to the bank. The average. teacher retired with 49K in total benefits, that’s pathetic. These are the second most influential people in our childrens lives, they are molding the future of our country and they retire with less than a janitor would retire with while some pencil pusher in a cushy office admin job that anyone can do is making double of what our teachers are making, strange days indeed (John Lennon).


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No one is getting the shaft! They are all making out like bandits. That’s 49k/YEAR in retirement, that’s not pathetic at all. As an AVERAGE that’s spectacular. Screw all these crooks… and that’s just what they are.


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Oh those horrible teachers, what a bunch of crooks! You think it’s fair that these admins that really are over paid in the first place make more than the teachers that work to pay for thier degrees and actually do the important work. Bet you feel for the wall street bankers as well.


IMO the adim are the bandits,,, guess we have different values.


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Did I say that that it’s fair that these admins are overpaid? No I did not.. but you would hard pressed to defend the California Teacher’s Association and local teachers when you look at the ACTUAL pay local teachers have been receiving. Do I think they should be well compensated? ABSOLUTELY. But in the real world, we are limited by what we can afford and sometimes we have to suffer through harder times.


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(In other words, I am choosing which one is the bandit, I said they ALL are)


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Teachers don’t make that much money. I have marched with the teachers for pay raises, I have seen what they make (here in Lucia Mar SD). 45K-50K a year isn’t that much to raise a family on. If it weren’t for the union then 3 well loved and admired principals would have been fired out of vindictiveness a few years back. How many people with a degree make that little? If it weren’t for the teachers union then they wouldn’t even be making that 45K-50K. Thank goodness for the teachers union.


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That may be Lucia Mar, that is not SLO Coastal where teachers make $60-$80k a year.. keep in mind that they have off all summer


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Lucia Mar is one of the lowest paying districts in the state. I’m not sure but is Coastal the district that receives Diablo Cyn money? If they are then they’re rolling in dough.


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“How many people with a degree make that little?”


I do and I have two kids!


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You make less than 45K? Well, that too bad but I guess as long as you’re happy and are able to support yourself then there’s no problem with that. I met a teacher at a school board meeting that was making 45K a year (that’s were I first got that figure. Her husband took off and left her with the 4 kids, the house payment and dog with no support. She was making it but she was also on food stamps. She had been a teacher for 13 years.


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Not to mention all the UNEMPLOYED degree holders. Get ready for it, folks, the day of having a degree and being unemployed (or under-employed) is drawing near, if not already here.


Also, it’s not as much about how much or little a teacher makes, it’s all about no performance merits/terminations and overall job security. Things that private sector people have to deal with each and every day. Well, that and the threat of competition.


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Why do articles like this only state some of the facts? If you are going to report this, include how much the individuals contributed to their retirement – it doesn’t all come from the school districts!! Rather than complain about those who still have protection of their retirement security , how about looking into why private sector retirement funds are being eliminated. And, what happens when those folks reach retirement age!!


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jhagstro, the game goes like this. Base pay is 120,000 per year, plus 30,000 in pension, but to make it look good we will say your pay is 150,000 and that you contributed 30,000 to your pension. the government (we the tax payers) put up the entire 150,000. so yes it does all come from the school districts, plus they have a guarantee of retirement benefits even if there is no money. We could one day live in a state with no current employees but huge taxes just to fund retirement


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You’re right about the tax payers paying the whole bit (salary plus pension benefits). But since teachers and administrators are tax payer funded anyway, we’re paying the whole thing regardless of whether they contribute to their pension or whether the pension is covered without them contributing. It’s all still tax payer money (unless they have another job doing something else on the side).


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Your “race to the bottom” argument is tired. No one is buying it anymore.


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