Oregon's Lake Oswego Schools Superintendent Cuts Own Salary In Half, School Closings Still Imminent (VIDEO)

At a time when school board meetings have become a setting for unwanted announcements and contentious discussions, Superintendent Bill Korach of Lake Oswego Schools in Oregon made a truly unusual statement.

To save the district money, he says he'll retire early but continue working. On top of that, Korach wants his salary cut from $140,000 a year to $75,000. He says he'll live off his retirement fund for the next few years, hopefully safeguarding one teacher and one staffer. The board accepted the proposal.

In the next breath, however, the board voted to continue with plans that would close schools. The district could save almost $2 million by closing and merging its elementary and junior high schools.
The district has a budget hole of almost $6 million.

As budget cuts abound in places as varied as an Alabama school with all odds stacked against it, to the recently-shrunken New York school system, districts are forced to devise creative ways to deal with shortages of space, supplies and faculty.

WATCH:

Comments

[nakedempire]

10:23 AM on 02/13/2011

america does not have to be in decline.cut the military and lets discuss tax havens for billionaires.

http://nakedempire.wordpress.com/

[beasteben]

01:42 PM on 02/11/2011

The country needs to raise taxes quickly and bail out our schools. This is rediculous.

[Okie Deadhead]

10:02 AM on 02/12/2011

Agree. My town will not even pass a Bond issue, they believe we get too much money as it is.

[brianartstar]

09:56 AM on 02/11/2011

This is beyond unfortunate. I think that by and large superintendents are underpaid! This man makes less than a first year lawyer in a big city law firm, and he is cutting his pay in half to protect both teachers and kids. Gee, when was the last time we saw a wall street banker do that?
Is this what we have come to? Shame on us.

[gilbskg]

01:51 PM on 02/11/2011

This educator says thank you for your thoughtful comment.

[Okie Deadhead]

10:06 AM on 02/12/2011

Superintendents are underpaid, yeah right. It's the teachers who are underpaid. Our superintendent makes four times what the teachers make. As for your comment "Shame on us," well you are correct. We say we care about our kids but the facts speak for themselves. We really don't, we only car about ourselves.

[brianartstar]

06:53 PM on 02/13/2011

Okie,
I know that compared to teacher pay it seems as though they make a fortune, but when we compare their salary to, lawyers, doctors, never mind CEOs , they don't make nearly as much. The truth is I know some bright, hard working, self-employed plumbers who make about as much as the average superintendent in my state of Mass. I don't mind plumbers making a good living.
I don't think the choice is teacher pay or superintendent pay. I want teachers and administrators to be better paid.

[whatsthat1]

07:29 AM on 02/11/2011

That is a fantastic story of a truly dedicated educator who shows he is in it for the students. Unlike here in Rhode Island where they cut students' education services to pay for slaries and pensions for administrators and teachers.
http://www.ri-specialeducation.com/index.html

[Marcilliane M Basso]

06:37 AM on 02/11/2011

Always sad to hear when a school closes but in the same thought even more shocked about a higher offical giving up money to save a closing school. That never happens enough to warrent a story.

[Ariel Bonzai]

12:37 AM on 02/11/2011

Congratulations Mr. Korach--apparently YOU are the exception to the rule. Or you are making a very shrewd political move. Either way, you are doing what ALL highly paid, infinitely richer school officials should do instead of letting teachers and school staff take all the blows. Too bad they won't see how well you model ethical, altruistic behavior. Too busy covering collective a** and figuring out new ways to cut costs (teacher cleansing, pension pinching, class size increase, cheap junk lunches, truancy reprisals, patronage with test makers, text book sales, etc). Students are counted, they do not count at my district where more $ is all the educrats care about. Maybe this eduCATOR's gesture will force educRATS to consider the same concessions--and the people should inisist. . .

[LisaCACO]

09:38 PM on 02/10/2011

I can't believe we're in this situation. we're going to pay for this in the near future and it will cost.

[science teacher]

12:08 AM on 02/11/2011

Agreed, it seems not only do we prefer "guns" over "butter"(military vs domestic spending) this preference also trumps the well being of our children.

If we really want to defend America, it would seen that educating our children and promoting the education of the world's children should be a bigger priority than the maintenance of our over-sized nuclear triad.

But that would mean we would have to start valuing life and peace over death and violence. Our national values would require a dramatic overhaul. And yes, I'm talking about the things we turn to for popular entertainment.

It would be nice to have school test scores become more of a topic of popular interest than sports news. I spent too much time in schools that diverted assets to sports for a few (and entertainment for the community) versus quality education for the many.