New benefits for Ky. school chief spark questions

This from Toni Konz at the Courier-Journal:

He's been Kentucky's education commissioner for only two months, but Jon Draud should get the same amount of sick time and vacation as if he were a 15-year veteran, the state Board of Education decided yesterday.

The unanimous decision is raising questions from some, including Gov. Steve Beshear, as the state wrestles with a budget shortfall."

"I question the appearance this creates during this time of financial crisis," Beshear said yesterday. "I trust that the state board took that into consideration before making its decision."

Acting [on] a request by Draud, the board voted 8-0 to amend his contract to provide 20 days of vacation instead of the standard 12 days and provide a one-time addition of 30 days of sick leave."

This is something that should have been given to him to start with," said board member Janna Vice of Richmond. "This kind of agreement would have been made with any person who would have come in as commissioner." Draud, who started the job in December, signed a four-year contract worth $220,000, plus benefits and relocation and housing expenses.

Draud worked several years for Northern Kentucky University, but those benefits didn't transfer to his new position as education commissioner, meaning he started with the same benefit level as any new state employee."Right now, I don't have any sick or vacation time," Draud said before the board's vote. "I don't anticipate anything, but if I were to get sick, I would have nothing to fall back on."He added that he was not a "rookie employee." ...

...some are questioning the board's decision, especially when officials anticipate that the state's public schools will be hit with a $46million budget cut in the next fiscal year.

...Board [member] Keith Travis...said he would not have voted for it."It constitutes the potential of a pay increase," Travis said. "And in a time of bleak financial prospects across the state, I think it sends the wrong message....

Any adjustments to his contract should be made during his annual contract review, not 45 days into the job."Richard Innes, an education analyst with the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions...