St. Louis Public Schools administrators get even more money

An article in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch points out: High-paying salaries triple in district.

As the article states: "In fact, St. Louis' top administrators seem to be far above nationwide averages when it comes to pay."

In light of the 23 lost accreditation points, perhaps the School Board should compare these administrators' salaries against those earned by their higher-performing predecessors rather than against other cities' payrolls. St. Louisans have an annoying tendency to compare their city to others before actually improving it. The schools crisis demonstrates just how foolish this tendency can become. Few people, aside from St. Louis Schools Watch publisher Peter Downs and his writers, are actually comparing past performance with current performance in order to find solutions rooted in the actual history of the district.

Finding solutions through review of actual history is difficult because history shows that no one has been a certain hero in the schools crisis, and that the Alvarez and Marsal year has been one of the worst in district history--and not simply for ideological reasons. The School Board majority as well as the district administration is too invested in covering up their own mistakes to admit failure.