We Must Commit More Money to Education

Because there's all sortsa Big Education administrators that need paying off.

First, pay off the head of the pension board after woeful underperformance:

(T)he Minneapolis teachers pension board in March extended the contract of its executive director, Karen Kilberg, a year beyond the date when the fund would cease to exist under the merger. It also granted her a six-month severance. The entire package is worth $215,000.

Wow! Pay her for a year PAST when her gig is over; she must have done a grat job, right?

The Minneapolis teacher pension fund has enough money to meet only 45 percent of its future liabilities, according to the Legislative Commission on Pensions and retirement. The Minneapolis fund earned $218 million less from 1994 to 2004 than it would have earned had it performed as well as the State Board of Investment, which handles money for the Teachers Retirement Association.

Way to go Karen. I can only imagine what lucky public entity will next benefit from your deft touch. Hey, while we're pissing away the money, let's make sure the short-timing superintendent lands on her feet:

The tab for the departure of former Minneapolis Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles has topped $250,000. The latest bill is for almost $61,000 in legal fees from the law firm that investigated allegations against Peebles and then advised the school board in the run-up to her forced resignation. That's atop the $179,500 the board agreed to pay Peebles to resign instead of being fired in January. The district is paying about $11,000 more to terminate the Cadillac lease it assumed from Peebles as part of the buyout.

The board in July asked lawyer Dennis O'Brien of the Littler Mendelson firm to investigate two anonymous letters that alleged Peebles had used district staff and resources for personal chores and college work. As the investigation neared a conclusion last winter, O'Brien was a key behind-the-scenes player who advised the board on options and dealt with Peebles' attorney. But that racked up $26,000 in legal fees for January alone, when she resigned.

What a zoo. Minneapolis has so solidified cart-before-the-horse as standard operating procedure, they think horses naturally walk backward. If you are paying taxes in that town, you are getting the shaft. What a disgusting model of civic accountability. And murder.