Valerie Strauss has a fascinating column about executive pay at some of our major education “nonprofits.” It is hard to see the difference between nonprofits and for-profits when you look at executive compensation. I hope she next takes a look at the compensation of charter chain executives.
According to the latest publicly available 990 tax forms filed to the IRS by the three organizations, which operate under 501(c)3 tax exempt status because of their declared educational missions:
Kurt Landgraf, now the former president and chief executive officer of the Educational Testing Service, earned for the 2013 fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2013: $1,307,314 in reportable compensation and $42,210 in estimated other compensation from the organization and related organizations. [See the ETS 990 here.]
Jon Whitmore, the chief executive officer of ACT, earned for the 2013 fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2014: $672,853 in salary, plus a bonus of $150,000, and other reportable compensation of $12,949, plus retirement contributions of $57,152, plus other nontaxable benefits of $18,109. That’s a total of $911,073. [See the ACT 990 here.]
David Coleman, the president and chief executive officer of the College Board, as well as a trustee, earned for the 2013 fiscal year ending June 30, 2014: $690,854 in reportable compensation plus $43,338 in other compensation from the organization and related organizations. Total: $734,192. (Coleman, a co-author of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts, joined the College Board in 2012, and was new in his job). [See the College Board 990 here.]
Go to her column to see the links to the tax forms.
ETS paid some members of its Board of Directors at a rate up to $103,000 a year for what is reported as approximately two hours of work a week, about $1,000 an hour. And more than three dozen top executives received more than $300,000 in total annual compensation; seven of those topped half a million dollars. For example, Philip Tabbiner, senior vice president for business innovation and growth, earned $655,055 in reportable compensation. Randy Bennett, Frederiksen Chair for assessment innovation, earned $316,450 in reportable compensation and a total of $489,758. Donado Yvette, vice president and treasurer, earned $422,793 in reportable compensation.
At the College Board, senior vice president Peter Negroni earned a total of $811,873 — the majority part of a severance package. That total was more than what was listed for Coleman, the College Board president.
The College Board itself claimed total assets that topped $1 billion, and its “assessment” programs — mostly the SAT and PSAT — took in $333 million but spent $289 million, for a net of $44 million. ACT’s total assets were $530,638,419 for fiscal 2013.
The College Board spent $1,768,295 on lobbying Congress and other public officials, the form says. ACT’s 990 form reported $674,485 in lobbying expenses, and the ETS, $40,851.
Fairtest, which criticizes the misuse of standardized tests, reported total revenue of $145,332.
Average teacher pay: about $50,000.
Who adds more value to society?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
But still not enough to pay for the second 50 foot yacht.
LikeLike
…and with each yacht, another tax break~!
LikeLike
It’s all about the kids!
LikeLike
That’s what they repeat ad nauseam.
Let’s go right to the source.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. First two paragraphs of “LETTER FROM BILL AND MELINDA GATES.”
[start]
Our friend and co-trustee Warren Buffett once gave us some great advice about philanthropy: “Don’t just go for safe projects,” he said. “Take on the really tough problems.”
We couldn’t agree more. Our foundation is teaming up with partners around the world to take on some tough challenges: extreme poverty and poor health in developing countries, and the failures of America’s education system. We focus on only a few issues because we think that’s the best way to have great impact, and we focus on these issues in particular because we think they are the biggest barriers that prevent people from making the most of their lives.
[end]
The entire paragraph of “HISTORY.”
[start]
Today, we work with thousands of partners in Africa, India, Europe, South America, and here in the United States. We are guided by the Gates family’s deeply held belief: that all lives have equal value. Our goal is to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live.
[end]
Go to: http://www.gatesfoundation.org
As prime examples of CCSS decontextualized informational text the above just needs a little editing and explanation. In other words, an English-to-English translation, or as Bob Shepherd might put it—a Rheephormish-to-English translation.
1), They are taking on “tough challenges” like “ensuring by mandates and starvation and twisted numbers & stats that America’s system of public education is such a failure that it will be replaced by charters and privatization and vouchers to benefit a few adults and their families and friends at the expense of the vast majority.”
2), The feel-good sounding phrase “all lives have equal value” needs a little explanation too. Remember that in the parlance of the heavyweights and “thought leaders” of the self-styled “education reform” movement that the wealthy and powerful and famous—and the wannabees that enforce and enable rheephorm policies—are, to borrow from George Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM, “more equal than others.” CCSS and measure-to-punish are only for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN and their parents and school staffs and associated communities. For THEIR OWN CHILDREN places like Lakeside School where Bill Gates went and where HIS OWN CHILDREN now attend. Remember: “most urgent needs” refers to securing the civil rights of “the people that count” like Bill & Melinda Gates to limit and degrade the educational choices available to almost everyone else.
Always glad to lend a hand…
😎
LikeLike
When Gates accepted the ALS water bucket challenge, he got a lot of PR because of his statement, “I want to accept this challenge, but I want to do it better than it’s been done before.” He apparently designed a contraption that dumped the water on his head differently. Why couldn’t he simply write a check for ALS research? How much money did he give ALS? (The amount wasn’t enough to knock him off the list as richest man in the world.) Whatever the amount was, it was good return on his money for what became more footage in the media, of a oligarch with a superiority complex.
LikeLike
Of course it’s all about the kids. Testing kids until they get sick or cry is lucrative business. And yes, I’ve seen kids get sick and I’ve seen them cry during some of these tests. Here’s an example from a recent common core math chapter test I was required to administer:
John (not the name used on the test) counted by ones to ten.
Mary (not the name used on the test) counted by twos to twenty.
Which child said more numbers while counting?
There was a blank for the child taking the test to write the name of one of the children. “Neither” was not given as an option.
Most of the kids were confused because the correct option was not given. One little girl (seven years old) started crying. A few went ahead and wrote “neither” even though it was not given as an option. Not all of them could do this, because at the age of seven most children will feel compelled to give one of the answers that they are told they must pick. That’s just where they are developmentally.
The multi-billion dollar corporation that wrote this question was deliberately leading the children to an incorrect answer. They made a little girl cry.
And they were paid money for doing this.
So yes, it is all about the children. It’s about making money off of children, making them go through something that does not help them at all, but rather damages them. And it doesn’t matter if the corporations are for-profit or non-profit; it’s all about the children and the money that can be made off of them.
Someone needs to tell these people that they can’t enjoy their money in hell.
And we need to stop voting for politicians who support these testing corporations and take their lobbying money, regardless of political party, and regardless of where the politicians stand on other issues. Until then, the abuse will continue.
LikeLike
And to listen to all of them, the only problem in the economy is a low quality workforce. If the peons would just borrow some money for courses or degrees or certificates and “skill up” we’d be “creating” middle class jobs all over the place. Just ignore the big piles of money going exclusively to the top and focus on “the skills gap” at the bottom. Wages will magically rise when working people are more deserving of higher wages.
LikeLike
“Wages will magically rise when working people are more deserving of higher wages.”
A new codicil to the trickle down theory? It only works for the worthy? You mean all those jobs that NAFTA shipped overseas will magically reappear if only we are worthy?
I like the way your brain works, Chiara.
LikeLike
Feel the Bern!
LikeLike
They can’t show a profit on the books.
What else are they going to do with all those left-over millions?
LikeLike
That is one of seemingly many misapprehensions about exempt organizations, that they aren’t allowed to hold cash or spend less money than they receive.
It isn’t true, of course. FairTest, for example, took in $154,000 in revenue in filing year 2013, but paid out $267,000 in salaries and expenses. How can this be?? It’s because they entered filing year 2013 with $184,000.
http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/222/222653502/222653502_201409_990EZ.pdf?_ga=1.154656376.157090897.1443968347
LikeLike
Read closely
I said “they can’t show a profit on the books”
LikeLike
What is the salary of ground level, front line staff at these nonprofits? I’m guessing it doesn’t match that of a first-year teacher…
LikeLike
But, but, they are *thought leaders” !
Another thing that could be reported is the % of these education non-profits’ revenues that go toward administrative costs, as opposed to program costs. Those numbers are probably eye-openers as well.
LikeLike
And this is the reason why the corporate education deformers will not give up the fight easily because they do not want to give up the lifestyle all that money buys—to them, who cares about the 50 million school age kids, their parents and more than 3 million teachers and their famlies.
LikeLike
Lloyd,
These nonprofits also have large numbers of lobbyists in the payroll to persuade legislators that tests are vital
LikeLike
Evaluation of non-profits, like those in the testing business and universities with huge endowments, is warranted. The NFL and TIAA-CREF were reviewed, relative to their tax avoidance.
LikeLike
Diane,
Profiting off of child labor is illegal. Why is profiting off of their mental labor legal? The homework and good grades do not make themselves. Children are working hard to get the results while their school, and thereby the work of the children, is being publicly traded.
Excuse me while I go throw up.
LikeLike
I encourage Valerie Strauss and any commenters to read the information the IRS has provided regarding exempt organizations: http://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Charitable-Organizations/Exemption-Requirements-Section-501(c)(3)-Organizations
Working for a nonprofit does not require a vow of poverty. It is permissible to offer salaries that are not only competitive with other nonprofits, but also private industry, so long as it is approved by the EO’s board and is not inconsistent with the EO’s mission.
LikeLike
Perhaps I just missed the Pope’s comment among those above, but please point out where Diane (or someone else) said that working for a nonprofit “require[s] a vow of poverty.”
Thanks.
LikeLike
SomeDAM Poet: see what happens when folks [here and above] hone their critical thinking skills on CCSS ‘closet’ reading of decontextualized informational texts and the lights go out and they forgot to bring a flashlight and batteries? They become [unwilling] devotees of Homer:
“I didn’t lie, I was writing fiction with my mouth.”
That’s, er, Homer Simpson. Not the very dead and very old and very Greek guy…
So let’s go from the word salad and cognitive dissonance produced by critical stinking, er, twerking, er, thinking, to that supernova of anti-rheephorm propaganda called the NYDAILYNEWS.
😳
Hey, I’m just following in the footsteps of one of the “thought leaders” of rheephorm, the NJ Comm. of Ed., by doubling down on whatevers.
Whatever.
It wasn’t too long ago that Saint Eva (anybody remember those Centres of Education Excellence called $ucce$$ Academies?) got yearly compensation of $567,500 for 10,000 [I am rounding upwards] students. That’s a pathetic $56.75@student for living a life that, well, words would only understate her tragic circumstances. A procession in her honor to be held soon, led by $ucce$$ Academy staff, students and parents who “volunteered” to spend a day living out their desire to honor someone worthy of sackcloth and ashes.
Then there’s that self-centered money-grubbing Carmen Fariña, head of NYC schools, with her whopping $212,614 yearly compensation for 1,000,000 [I round downwards] students. That’s a staggering 21.2614¢ for each of her students! How anyone can in good conscience squeeze money out of student stones with Saint Eva’s selfless example close by is a mystery that could only be solved by William Sanders, Raj Chetty, John Friedman and Jonah Rockoff when they apply their mystical numbers and imaginative stats to this vexing problem of immorality persisting in the face of decency and honor.
😏
Soviet-era style propaganda link for all news antirheephorm: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/success-academy-charter-schools-revenue-doubles-year-article-1.2050561
So, SomeDAM Poet, if you have been following my train wreck of thought I am sure you are feeling pretty darn ashamed of yourself right about now. *Read the P.S. that follows.* Well, buddy, you’ve earned every uncomfortable moment.
😎
P.S. In all “seriousness” though, I humbly invite you down to Pink Slip Bar & Grille. Drinks are on the old Greek guy, though forewarned is forearmed: if you like ouzo, beware, because Socrates tends to hog as much of it as he can. And he’s always harping on virtue and beauty… Duane Swacker will be there touting the virtues of Noel Wilson while I try to get a word in edgewise about Banesh Hoffman, but the real fun comes when Linda and Chiara and 2old2teach and Dienne and some of the other regulars come in and have actual conversations. Robert Rendo can be a hoot when he starts scribbling humorous cartoons on napkins. .
Oh well, I am sure I’ve offended a lot of folks by leaving them out but just remember that my nom de plume is KrazyTA. And it must be true, because someone from across the aisle informed me not long ago that “Your moniker is most appropriate.”
So there. Highest compliment I could have gotten.
😜
LikeLike
Research exposed the causal factor in U.S. CEO pay. Pay is linked not to traditional performance measures but to the perks and/or pay, the board members received.
LikeLike
Linda: you mean like basing teacher evals heavily on student test scores, using VAManiacal formulae to create perverse incentives and disincentives for public school staffs?
😱
Say it isn’t so!
Sorry. I just asked you to lie. My bad.
Next round is on me at Pink Slip Bar & Grille.
😎
LikeLike
Yes, Krazy TA, it is a corollary we understand but, Tim will not.
LikeLike
Tim
I am so glad that these people do not have to take a vow of poverty. Neither did I as a public school teacher.
Meanwhile, neither did they need to make a vow to make more than a superintendent of a school district the size of L. A. U. S. D.
And just what makes current C. E. O.’s salaries, often for failure, the goldmine they are? How much more are they creating when failing? How much more are they making while failing? And how much are these people sucking from the school systems/taxpayers they have vowed to serve?
Oh, I see, that only applies to teachers and/or their unions Teachers are supposed to take vows of poverty so the school districts can purchase these companies’ programs and pay their C. E. O.’s salaries that teachers would not dream of as public servants.
You may have convinced Nuns that this system is O. K., but I am not buying it.
Everything is relative. And it is more relative than ever in the U. S.
LikeLike
West Coast Teacher:
When Hewlett-Packard fired Carly Fiorina, she left with $42 million.
Not like teachers.
LikeLike
Average pay for corporate Charter school teachers is about $10k less than public school teachers and administrative costs of corporate Charters is much higher.
average charter teacher pay is $41,629
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Charter-Schools-USA-Salaries-E234934.htm
Charter Schools Spend More On Administration, Less On Instruction Than Traditional Public Schools: Study
Controlling for factors that determine school resource allocation like student enrollment and school location, Michigan State University’s David Arsen and the University of Utah’s Yongmei Ni found that charter schools spend on average $774 more per student on administration and $1,140 less on instruction than do traditional public schools. …
Lower compensation also contributes to higher teacher turnover rates among charter schools, which consequently requires “highly scripted instructional practices” and more demanding administrative oversight, thus increasing administrative costs. Charter schools also tend to serve fewer students who require special education and require fewer special programs. …
the authors warn, charters “have advanced a top-heavy reallocation of resources that mirrors the distributional shifts unfolding so dramatically over recent decades in the U.S. private sector.”
And while charter schools’ model of lower instructional and higher admi
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/charter-schools-spend-mor_n_1415995.html
LikeLike
Lloyd Lofthouse:
Dynamite information!
Thank you so much for keeping it real.
Not rheeal.
😎
LikeLike
Excellent information. Thanks a lot. The charter model is now being used to propagate networks of private school choice in low and middle income communities, with a focus on “faith based” schools. An $85 million fund is being put together to launch startups in six states with the most generous voucher and voucher-like schemes. Most of the initiators have a commitment to Catholic education. One has just served as the Walton Foundation representative in Milwaukee. I will have more on this soon.
LikeLike
I have repeatedly cited her John Barranco who got his salary and his girlfriend’s salary up to the highest in the state at a “special school” non-profit and Barranco is the highest on the teacher pension list; the judge gave him back his pension… the Attorney General has file boxes full of data but they cannot seem to do anything. one superintendent got a $5,000 fine and the business manager was “indicted” for placing non-shows on the not-for-profit employment list so they could collect from teacher pensions. The legislature think they have closed the door on this but they have not and other “entrepreneurs” will find the loopholes. It is a part of our sick culture that says a “CEO” deserves /is entitled and a superintendent who calls himself a “CEO” and has a compliant board of his friends will feel it is his divine right to do this in every state…. it will happen repeatedly.
LikeLike
Of course, the deformers say: It’s about the kids! Their MEALS are the KIDS.
LikeLike
The comeback from reformers will focus on union admin and exec pay; not teachers. This point will be met with “but union. . .”
LikeLike
It’s the absolute and utter hypocrisy that is so obvious in local non-profits that know how poor their “donors” are and still take from them. In every charter operators brochure, the CEO/Executive pay should be disclosed, up front. Potential charter enrollees should be made aware that these are also public records available online for free from Guidestar.org for example.
Only then could these families really make a choice as to whether they want to “chop wood and carry water”- sometimes literally! enabling a self-appointed Lord/Lady charter operator to be very well-off indeed while many of the serfs in the fiefdom continue to rely on food stamps and WIC checks.
Michael B. Dorff wrote “Indispensable and other Myths: Why the CEO pay experiment failed and how to fix it”, essentially exposing “the current cult of leadership” that characterizes corporate culture and how it encourages unethical behavior.
This is why public schools cannot be ruled by corporations and still hold the public good as a first priority.
LikeLike
Looks like I went into the wrong line of work. Too bad that being a high school teacher over qualifies me for one of those non profit gigs.
LikeLike
Doesn’t it strike the wrong cord, for a former state chair of a teaching contractor, to make money from the internet pleas of teachers, who are in financially starved schools? Designation as a non-profit, allows the solicited money for school supplies, to reduce taxes of both the donor and the organization.
If both paid taxes, theoretically, wouldn’t it lessen the condition that created the need?
LikeLike
Teachers and all not in the 1% need to wake up.
LikeLike
All the money in the world couldn’t compensate for the damage I’d be doing to these innocent children.
LikeLike
I would love to se somebody (Mercedes Schneider perhaps?) total up the executive compensation of all the CMO’s and make an apples to apples comparison to real public schools administrative overhead. Administrative cost per child might be a good place to start. It would be great to get a true cost for the parallel beauracracies taxpayers are funding, as well as the more general extraction of tax dollars via things like the new markets tax credit.
LikeLike
It would also be good to track suspensions, expulsions and how many students vanish and never return—in every single private sector charter school. There should be a non-biased, unbought inspector in every one of these school keeping an eye on this frauds 100% of the time.
Gather all the info and monitor everything they do. If they fart, make sure it is recorded.
LikeLike