Reporters at the suburban based Daily Herald newspaper have been doing some good reporting on the extremely excessive pensions and salary perks paid to employees of the government run school system.
In one side column, the DH reports:
Who gets the most each year
Retired public school employees in the North, Northwest and West suburbs
$237,195
Gary Catalani, 59, superintendent
Wheaton Warrenville Unit D200
$234,803
Henry Gmitro, 57, superintendent
Carol Stream Elem. D. 93
$226,645
Mary Curley, 58, superintendent
Hinsdale Elem. D. 181
$217,482
John Conyers, 64, superintendent
Palatine Twp. Elem. D15
$206,457
Norman Wetzl, 63, superintendent
Community Unit D300
This morning I was reminded about the story surrounding that last one – Norm Wetzl:
Wetzl was superintendent of District 300. The board voted to remove him as Superintendent, and hired a replacement Superintendent. Wetzl wasn’t fired – he was slid to one side. They even raised his salary from $148,000 to $198,000 for two years until he retired with a pension of $172,000.
Pension Watch kindly linked to all of the Daily Herald articles. Here they are for your reading pleasure. Warning to tea party supporters – they might make you a little angry.
Pensions for 131 Illinois School Retirees Top $150,000 Each Annually
Financial Problems Not Unique to Illinois’ Teacher Pension Fund
Illinois’ Five State Retirement Systems Are Only 38.4% Funded on Average
I left off their editorial from the list because you’d be better off spending some time reading through Bill Zettler’s articles found here.