State Representative wants to limit 'golden parachute' for superintendents

Tom Abrahams Image
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Katy leader wants to limit 'golden parachute' for superintendents
Superintendents are leaving school districts with major dollars due to golden parachute pay.

The Clean Contract Bill is designed to prevent school districts from paying too much to superintendents when they leave their jobs.

At the Katy ISD school board meeting, the board members were happy to talk about the number which show their students outperform others in Texas.

But they would not talk about proposed legislation focusing on numbers that come behind dollar signs.

Not a single board member would go on camera to discuss House Bill 880.

It's a legislation proposed by Katy mom and new State Representative Gina Calanni.

"We want to make sure that our taxpayer dollars are going to the schools," said Calanni, "to invest in our children's futures, and to make sure that teachers are able to feed their families."

Calanni's bill would prevent districts from paying outgoing superintendents more than a year of salary.

Just last year, Katy ISD paid its embattled superintendent Lance Hindt roughly three quarters of a million dollar when he resigned. And Katy is not alone.

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"This is just a huge problem," said Calanni. "It's been going on for decades."

According to a report from the Legislative Budget Board, between 2013 and 2017, 141 outgoing superintendents received $18.3 million. That's more than $129,000 per superintendent.

"We shouldn't be having these golden parachutes to superintendents that are no longer with our district," said Calanni

Calanni said she has support on both sides of the aisle and thinks 880 will be part of the comprehensive education reform that happens this session in Austin.

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