CORTINES CUTS HIS OWN PAY

by Howard Blume | Homeroom Blog | LA Times

April 08, 2008  - The school board Tuesday approved the hiring of Ramon C. Cortines as senior deputy superintendent-the No. 2 position-in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The veteran educator will leave his post as a Los Angeles deputy mayor to head day-to-day operations at the nation’s second-largest school system.

Cortines, 75, formerly headed the school districts in New York City, San Francisco and San Jose. For six months in 2000, he served as interim schools chief in Los Angeles.

Cortines agreed to an at-will contract, meaning he will serve at the pleasure of Supt. David L. Brewer. His salary will be $250,000 a year. Brewer offered him $270,000, but Cortines said he insisted on a lower amount to acknowledge, symbolically, the district’s current financial bind. Under the current proposed state budget, L.A. Unified must identify about $460 million in budget cuts.

The board vote was 6-0, with one member, Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, not present for the vote.

Cortines cuts his own pay : The Homeroom : Los Angeles Times