57° F
Schools
Eanes school board OKs superintendent contract on 6-1 vote count
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
|
|
17
The Eanes school board approved a new contract for Superintendent Nola Wellman during a meeting on Feb. 24 in a 6-1 vote.
Board member Clint Sayers voted against the terms of the addendum extending Wellman’s contract for five years to Dec. 31, 2014. The new contract, signed Feb. 26 and retroactive to Jan. 1, provides for a base salary of $231,063.95 and an increase of $10,000 to her tax-sheltered plan. Sayers said the $10,000 increase was intended to compensate the superintendent for travel expenses.
“I’ve got some issues with the additional $10,000 that Dr. Wellman has asked us to include in the contract over and above the normal 3 percent increase,” Sayers said. “My understanding is that that increase is to offset travel expenses that the district would normally be paying for Dr. Wellman.”
Sayers said he was not comfortable providing additional salary for expenses that should be covered as expense items. He said the change in the way the district covers Wellman’s expenses would be problematic in a number of ways.
“When it’s done that way, these expenses are now not subject to open records,” he said. “People can’t come out and find out where we are spending our travel money. I think that’s hiding the ball. I think that’s hiding where public money goes. I think the people have the right to know how their tax dollars are being spent.”
Transferring the reimbursement of travel expenses to salary also overstates the superintendent’s compensation package to the Texas Retirement System and results in higher retirement pay, Sayers said.
“I don’t think that TRS would consider this credible compensation when they have to do their retirement, because it’s basically an allowance for travel expenses,” he said.
Sayers said covering travel expenses as salary also worked as a disincentive for Wellman to travel.
“Now, she will have to pay for travel out of her own pocket,” he said. “It is also a problem for the district in times of cutting expenses. If we have to cut expenses, what do we do? Go back to Dr. Wellman and say, ‘we’re cutting travel. We need a reimbursement?’ I would just like to call it what it is and call it travel.”
Board members Ellen Balthazar, Robert Durkee, Paul Stone and Mike Monnig spoke in support of the contract revision.
“I think that this is consistent with other expenses like cell phones and car and that sort of thing, which are legitimate things to be involved in compensation,” Balthazar said. “We have documented records from history with what these expenses track through as. Nobody is making money pro or con.”
Balthazar said there was precedent in other districts for the payment of travel expense as a portion of salary and that the practice was legal.
“It’s something we should do in support of our superintendent,” she said.
“There are other ways for people to understand what goes on in this district – calendars, emails, etc,” said Paul Stone. “This was a reasonable request. It’s more efficient for administration.”
In addition to her base salary, Wellman also receives a $5,000 supplemental retirement contribution, reimbursement of taxes owed on TRS contributions, a separate $21,000 contribution to her tax sheltered plan and payment of life insurance premiums on a minimum $560,000 policy. Her benefits also include 10 vacation days, seven sick leave days and indemnification against lawsuits and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees incurred in any legal proceedings and administrative proceedings relating to her district duties.
So it’s “legal” Ms. Balthazar? Just because she can doesn’t mean she should.
Here’s the question: Why doesn’t Nola Wellman want the taxpayers to review her travel expenses? What is she hiding?
Mr. Sayers is right on the money: ““When it’s done that way, these expenses are now not subject to open records,” he said. “People can’t come out and find out where we are spending our travel money. I think that’s hiding the ball. I think that’s hiding where public money goes. I think the people have the right to know how their tax dollars are being spent.” (Thank you Mr. Sayers.)
And to Paul Stone, about those “calendars” that you claim are an alternative way to “understand what goes on in this district” you are wrong. The administration stamps “DRAFT” on district calendars and uses that exception to hide the information from the public. Further, “calendars and emails” are not travel receipts.
As a result of this change, the public cannot hold the superintendent accountable for her excessive travel expenses. This is yet another intentional effort by Nola Wellman to thwart district transparency and keep the taxpayers in the dark. Shame on you Nola.
Shame on the six board members that voted to approve Wellman’s contract, and thank you Mr. Sayers for taking a stand by supporting transparency in our schools. The integrity and courage you displayed by voting ‘NO’ is much appreciated. Your vote is a true indication that you take your responsibility to represent the priorities of Eanes taxpayers seriously.
Given the history of enormous legal expenses incurred by the Eanes leadership, it would have been prudent to think twice before signing any contract that includes an indemnification clause protecting only the interests of the superintendent, and leaving all others holding the bag for her decisions.
Good Job Clint Sayers!!! Glad someone is finally speaking out about Dr. Wellman. Hopefully this little blip will be reported to TRS as reimbursable expenses such as travel cannot be counted as salary and go towards retirement amounts. I am curious if any of the School Board members actually took the time to review this section of the TRS code- probably not???
And what about the Texas laws in place regarding per diem amounts for lodging and meals for state employees? Oh, that’s right, Nola prefers the Adolphus and five-star restaurants. Now that she’s found a way to hide the receipts from the taxpayers, we’ll never know.
So if she doesn’t travel, does she just POCKET the $10k? So if she cuts back on her travel (which she certainly should) she profits instead of the children served by the district. Meanwhile, she moans about how we can’t afford teachers. Give more to EEF so Nola can continue livin’ large? Not a chance.
This issue reminds me of Wellman’s property tax issue when she didn’t pay her fair share. Apparently, in her world, it’s not about what’s right, it’s about how she can skirt the rules and laws (whether property tax, TRS, public information) to her own benefit and without consequence. And the board (sans one member) enables this behavior.
These Eanes folks make me sick. I’ve been paying taxes for the better part of 10 years and Eanes thinks they can just bond up some more money from our pockets. ~70% of us don’t even have kids in Eanes. It’s time for us to take back the control of Eanes and kick some butt.
This is outrageous. Why do the voters in Eanes ISD continue to elect school board members who simply betray the taxpayers’ trust?
It is time to take back control of Eanes and begin running the ISD in a professional and prudent manner.
P.S. if this is legal, it should not be. ISD employees already have a much more generous compensation package and retirement plan than most of the taxpayers who pay their bills.
The naysayers are really grasping at straws when they need to dredge up a story that’s seven months old. These actions were legal and commonly done in Texas school districts. Anyone who accuses Dr. Wellman of being unprofessional and imprudent surely hasn’t met her or the incredible staff she has built. In six years Dr. Wellman has taken this district from a good district to an amazing one that blows my mind every time I think of it. We get private school results from a public school system. Incredible. Do we really need to nitpick over this? Maybe the nitpickers are jealous that they couldn’t achieve what she has…
I also read the article in the Austin Statesman earlier this week.
So it seems that the school board rewarded Dr. Wellman for a job well done in a way that does not cost the district additional cash. Other districts across Texas have done the same thing.
I say “Excellent”. Thanks to the board for being good stewards of the district’s money and for the outstanding work of Dr. Wellman.
If you just enjoy being mad at the superintendent, then don’t bother reading this.
The 10,000 or 833 per month is part of her salary and taxable to the full extent of the law.
This covers her in-district expenses. All the gas and wear and tear on her own vehicles. Certainly she doesn’t drive a school car everywhere – between campuses and the central office, to local meetings, to games, to PTA meetings, to Rotary club, to board meetings, to the regional service center, to weekend sporting events, etc.
No one in their right mind would want to keep track of all that travel. Her accountant probably jumped for joy when he read the above article. She can only take a job expense on her taxes if she does keep all these receipts and she exceeds the 10,000 in a year.
Her out-of-town expenses are still submitted for reimbursement if she so chooses and are subject to the open records act. Who cares if she pays for a nicer hotel room out of her own pocket.
It is illegal to use bond taxes for salaries. The bond money (I&S) has nothing to do with the maintenance and operation (M&O) portion of the budget.
Silence DoGood fails to include very important points to consider that were discussed in a Statesman editorial a a few days ago. The editors of that paper did the research and shared their opinion as did several readers of that publication. Research this issue thoroughly. Here’s a link to that editorial:
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/eanes-should-not-keep-public-in-dark-about-945607.html
When you finish reading that, here are a few more credible organizations that weighed in on this issue last week. Continue your research here:
http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2010/09/travel-stipend-could-diminish-transparency-for-austinarea/1285879370.column
and here:
http://www.foift.org/?p=935
I agree with the transparency concerns, but Silent DoGood’s “revelation” that this $10,000 amount only covers in-district travel expenses not out of district travel expenses (which can still be submitted for reimbursement?) is disturbing if accurate. Nothing that I have seen, including the Statesman front page story, has reported this. If true, it really makes this even more of a questionable “deal” for the district. Guess it’s just another “change of scope”!
Nola Wellman will be long gone and we’ll be left with the debt while she is living large. After the district’s “rainy day” savings account is depleted, as Wellman predicts will happen in the next couple of years, academic services and supports will crash and burn while we have numerous fields of artificial turf, indoor football facilities, swim centers, and giant scoreboards to maintain and mountains of debt to pay off too.
You get what you pay for in talented leadership. A modest creative increase to keep other districts from seducing her from this community is a good investment.
EISD is blessed to have a superintendent as smart and dedicated as Dr. Wellman.
I’ve heard that Nola has applied for jobs in other districts and hasn’t been hired. Maybe she is willing to shed some light on this issue?
I’ve heard that Nola has been offered jobs in other districts and has turned them down. Maybe she is willing to shed some light on this issue?