Opinion
 

HISD needs to put students ahead of salaries

by Richard A. Blaver

Recent news has brought the local public school problems to light. On the home front, at the Houston Independent School District, the issue is how the district determines where to make budget cuts.

Educating students should eb HISD's highest priority. Why doesn't the district understand that money needs to be directed at children first, the schoosl second, the teachers third, and the administration last?

Instead, the trend in HISD is a comfortable distribution of funds on the administrative side and a tightly budgeted allotment toward the remaining aspects of education, with cuts occurring everywhere but in the administration. If this is not driven by administrators' greed, I don't know what is.

OK, I'll give credit to the few people of integrity who I've seen in print.

In a June 1 Houston Chronicle report, HISD board member Manuel Rodriguez suggested that salary cuts should be considered for the highest-paid administrators, as HISD employee records showed that at least 50 administrators make $100,000 or more yearly. Yet there is no mention of any administrative budget cuts, save one, and even it fails to mention how much money will be saved by replacing one chief business officer and reallocating the responsibilities to three other people.

Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, told the Chronicle the "big bucks on the administrative side should be the real target." This statement comes from the man who is an important voice for the teachers, but take a look at some of the administrative salaries that are not being changed -- 50 administrators make $100,000 or more, and yet the teachers are still making meager salaries, with pay cuts on the way. Do we want to know what budget cuts are being made that directly impact the students? Yes, we do, but we all know it's going to directly hurt them.

HISD's chief business officer Cathy Mincberg is stepping down from her $162,333-per-year position, effective June 18. Supposedly, her position is going to be filled by three employees, but she is starting a nonprofit organization called The Center for School District Effectiveness, in which she says she "will be working with new superintendents across the country who want to reform their school systems," according to the Chronicle. One would hope this entails administrative budget cuts.

All of us who voted for this tax cut should not be down on ourselves for this problem because we did the right thing, but we need to make sure that planning and implementation of policies does not take away from the students and teachers. We need to make sure the budget cuts are directed in the right places. 

Certainly, the administrators can afford to stop playing on the golf course for a year or two so that more of our HISD students can be benefit from proper educational instruction and learn how to be a productive part of Houston's future successes. 

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy to come by, but for the sake of the students, follow Mincberg's example: Be a solution and not a problem.

Blaver, an editorial writer for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu.