Ackerman has taken 10 furlough days Learning House

Ackerman has taken 10 furlough days

July 22, 2011 – 6:46 am

In the middle of a budget crisis, Philadelphia’s well-compensated schools chief agrees to a voluntary salary reduction – but later collects the original amount anyway upon departure from the District.

That’s what former CEO Paul Vallas did in 2007.

But a spokesperson for Superintendent Arlene Ackerman says she has no intention of asking to be compensated later for the furlough days she has been taking.

“Dr. Ackerman voluntarily provided those days to the District to help with the budget gap,” spokesperson Jamilah Fraser told the Notebook. “She would never request those funds back from the District.”

Ackerman is employed under a contract that makes no mention of furlough days. But Fraser said that according to Michael Davis, the District’s chief counsel, the superintendent “could decide whether or not she wanted to volunteer furlough days.”

The superintendent has already taken 10 of the 20 furlough days promised back in February. So far, that represents just over $13,000 in salary savings to the District, plus associated benefits savings. In all, furloughs of executive staff and other central office staff will generate only $300,000 in savings for the District; that represents about one half of one percent of the total budget reduction in central office.

Back in fall 2006, then-CEO Vallas agreed to forgo a $25,000 increase to his $250,000 salary after an unanticipated $73 million budget gap emerged. He stepped down the following June. News reports from 2007 indicated that in the face of a continued large budget shortfall, attorneys for Vallas negotiated hard for a good severance package as he prepared to leave the District.

In the final deal, Vallas was paid the raise as specified in his contract, which had not been amended. He was also paid a $100,000 retention bonus even though he left his post days before the date he was eligible for it, using vacation days to bridge the difference.

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