Council Members Irked by Pay Plan

2 School Officials' Proposed Salaries Exceed D.C. Cap

The $200,000 salaries that D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has offered two top aides exceed a $152,686 cap for such supervisory positions, setting up a possible showdown between Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and the council.

The salaries proposed for Rhee's deputy chancellor and chief of staff, along with Rhee's compensation package of $275,000 plus signing and performance bonuses, have drawn the ire of some council members who question whether the positions merit the same pay that Fenty receives. Rhee has also offered six-figure salaries to half a dozen other people on her staff.

The pay range for D.C. government supervisors who are not appointed by the mayor is $56,740 to $152,686, according to the city's Department of Human Resources.

Fenty spokeswoman Mafara Hobson said the mayor might ask the council to raise the cap. But council members have balked at relaxing salary caps for other city officials.

"We believe [D.C. public schools] have the authority to hire staff at the current projected salary levels," Hobson said. "However, if council action is needed, the administration would certainly go through the appropriate council process."

Late Tuesday, council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) persuaded the council to reject Fenty's emergency request to create two pay scales that would have given him the authority to pay city executives up to $279,900 without the council's approval. That legislation did not apply to school system officials.

The current cap for those executives is $179,096, and the mayor must ask the council for waivers to award higher payer to those officials, such as the schools chancellor and police chief.

The legislation would have been "like giving the mayor a blank check," Schwartz said. "It was actually like a $100,000 raise totally at the discretion of the mayor."

Instead, the council passed an emergency resolution to give the mayor the authority to offer up to $279,900 a year for each of six positions, including Rhee's.

Schwartz, who heads the council committee on Workforce Development and Government Operations, said she will schedule hearings on executive pay in the fall.

Council member Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) cast the lone vote against the emergency measure Tuesday night because, he said, "there was just confusion on what the process was."

"There's a lot of concern in the community about all these salaries and what people make," Brown said in an interview yesterday. "Is there a system to administer how much people get paid?"

Rhee, 37, is the founder and former executive director of the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit group that recruits and trains teachers in inner-city school districts, including Washington's.

Although Rhee worked for three years as an elementary school teacher, she has never been a superintendent or chancellor.

According to fiscal 2005 records filed by the nonprofit group with the Internal Revenue Service, Rhee's compensation was $153,400 and benefits totaled $5,800 for the 12 months that ended in September 2006. In an interview, Rhee said her base salary was $150,000 before she resigned to take the D.C. chancellor's post, and that did not include bonuses.

Kaya Henderson, whom Rhee has tapped for the $200,000 deputy chancellor job, had compensation of $127,619 and benefits of $6,514 as vice president of strategic partnerships at the New Teacher Project, according to the same records.

Lisa Ruda, who has been named Rhee's chief of staff, was the interim chief executive of the Cleveland Municipal School District before resigning in August 2006. She earned $172,000 in early 2006, according to the Plain Dealer.

Council member Brown said a pay scale must be created that outlines job skills and experience needed for positions. "I'm all for bringing mavericks to the table, but we need to be consistent," he said. "There's just too much gray area."