Personnel Payouts Put Local Lawmaker On Edge

Several large payouts to departing school employees have some public education watchdogs calling for stronger legislative oversight of local school districts. State Auditor Jack Wagner, a Democrat from Beechview who is running for re-election this year, said his office has investigated large buyouts of school superintendent contracts. Most recently, he examined the Peters Township School District, which agreed last month to pay $173,000 to its superintendent while releasing him.

Wagner is pushing to resurrect failed legislation from 2005 that forbid superintendent buyout agreements from being confidential and capped the amount they could pay. Former state Rep. Tom Stevenson, a Mt. Lebanon Republican, offered the 2005 bill after Wagner's office investigated the $490,000 buyout of former Mt. Lebanon Superintendent Margery Sable. The bill passed the House but died without a vote in the Senate Education Committee.

Link: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_562709.html