Outrage Over Half-Million-Dollar Salary Of Calif. School Superintendent Sparks Investigation
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The revelation that the superintendent of a tiny Southern California school district earned more than President Barack Obama last year sparked calls Tuesday for his resignation, a criminal investigation and a recall of the school board.
An angry crowd showed up at a special meeting of the Centinela Valley Union High School District after a newspaper investigation revealed Superintendent Jose Fernandez's total compensation package. Many of the speakers called on Fernandez and the five board members to step down, KCAL-TV reported.
The Torrance Daily Breeze reported earlier this month that Fernandez collected $663,000 in compensation in 2013. In comparison, Obama's overall compensation package, which included salary, benefits and other perks, amounts to $569,000 annually.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy, who oversees the nation's second-largest school district, had a nearly $390,000 compensation package. Fernandez oversees three high schools in the working-class suburbs of Hawthorne and Lawndale.
The Daily Breeze also found that Fernandez received a $91,000 home loan from the district as he was going through his second bankruptcy and had lost his family home.
Fernandez wouldn't comment on his compensation to the newspaper.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He asserted at Tuesday night's meeting that school conditions have improved and the once-insolvent district has reached financial stability since he became superintendent in 2008.
"The facilities here were, my God, some of them were similar to the situation in Haiti," he said.
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