It just never ends

The Ledger reports today,

A Bergen County school chief was awarded more than a half-million dollars in extra pay for unused sick time and other benefits, including $300,000 that was paid to his estate after his sudden death in 2004.

The superintendent in Long Branch saw his income top $300,000 last year due to more than $110,000 in one-time buybacks and other payments.

And a former superintendent from Teaneck may have added as much as $20,000 to his annual pension when his salary was boosted with end-of-career stipends and pay for unused leave. That doesn't include the $60,000 consultant contract and retirement golf trip to Myrtle Beach.

These and dozens more examples are part of a scathing report on school administrator pay released by the State Commission of Investigation yesterday. The report detailed what it called widespread padding and "manipulation" of compensation, costing taxpayers millions of dollars in added, and often hidden, school costs.

We MUST get rid of the public employment system in this state.