Skip to main content
The board of education at Portland Public Schools rejected another proposal to audit central-office salaries following news reports about big pay hikes for Superintendent Carole Smith's closest advisers. But the 4-2 vote comes as board elections approach May 19 and three of four board members who oppose second-guessing Smith's decisions prepare to leave office at the end of June.
Discussion around the proposalâwhich would study the growth in central-office employees making over $70,000 annually and evaluate how new salaries were establishedâwas fraught with emotion, signaling fraying relationships on the board and a deep divide concerning the board's oversight role.
Smith, who for eight years has stoically listened to public criticism about various decisions that come with running the state's largest school district, for the first time sounded hurt Tuesday night, saying she didn't like the "tone" of board member Bobbie Regan's push for the audit.
Regan, who is running for re-election, held her ground. She said she's been hearing from a lot of community members since WW first published a story about the salary hikes April 1. She said the audit was necessary to help the board set parameters around central-office salariesâsomething the board already does for all other employee groups. "It's a matter of public trust," she said.
Ruth Adkins, who's not running again and not spending her days talking to voters, said she's not hearing the same clamor from the public. (In an op-ed published in The Oregonian last week, Adkins blamed the media's "cynical barrage of negativity" for stirring up "faux controversies about non-issues â like the superintendent's recent increase of administrator salaries.")
Pam Knowles, who's not up for re-election until 2017, chimed in next. She said she hasn't gotten a single email complaining about the salary hikes, which Knowles has publicly supported from the get-go. "What I see is an article in the newspaper and candidates using it for political purposes," she shot back.
Matt Morton, who's also not running again, said he wasn't sure what he would learn from an audit on salaries that he didn't already know. "I feel like the information is already available," he said. "Part of this feels like a bullying tactic to me."
Greg Belisle also voted against the measure, saying he was fully aware Smith was giving big raises to central-office administrators, some of whom faced salary freezes and furloughs amid the recession. Thanks to recent increases, annual salaries for the superintendent's chief of staff, top spokesman and equity director now stand at $134,838.
An April 14 resolution calling for a salary audit also failed.
Board member Steve Buel, who voted for the last audit proposal, was absent Tuesday night. Regan, joined by board member Tom Koehler, wouldn't have had enough votes anyway to overcome the four-person bloc on the board. Student representative Minna Jayaswal, whose vote doesn't actually count, also voted yes.
WWeek 2015