By John Waters, Publisher
According to documents obtained by the Gazette under an Open Records Request, the tiny Terlingua Common School District paid former superintendent Kathy Killingsworth over $510,000 for the last two and a half school years actually worked.
Last December, despite the fact that the former superintendent resigned in the middle of the school year, she was nevertheless paid her salary for the full school year: $161,814. The prior school year, Killingsworth was paid $169,904, and $178,399 the year before, totaling over a half million dollars.
School business manager Jeanette Hall confirmed Killingsworth was paid the full contract amount for the 2013-2014 school year despite having only worked half the year. Hall also said the former superintendent has about three months of vacation time.
On April 1, one day after the Gazette obtained the information, in a letter to the editor to another local media outlet (and now posted on this website), Terlingua School CSD Board of Trustees President Fredrick Page blasted the Gazette for reporting on the former superintendent’s salary, calling this reporter “obsessed.” Page has been the president of the school board for 30 years and said he was personally involved in all salary negations.
On March 31 in the print edition of the April 2014 Gazette, we criticized the school district for lack of financial transparency. The Terlingua CSD is the only school district in the Big Bend region that does not post financial information including salaries on its website.
At the school board meeting last month, school business manager Hall, said the school had $1,479,006.06 invested in the Lone Star Liquidity Plus Fund. That fund underwent a name change three years ago and is now called the Government Plus Fund according to the brokerage firm First Public, which is owned by the Texas Association of School Boards and manages the fund. Why the district is unaware of the name change for such a major investment is unclear. Hall added the school also has $118,820 invested with the brokerage Edward Jones totaling $1.597,858 in investments. In Page’s letter to the editor, boasting of the school’s financial health, he said the school has $1.8 million in reserves.
Page declined the opportunity to be interviewed or to offer further comment. Current School Superintendent Bobbie Jones did not respond to a request from the Gazette for comment.
The Terlingua CSD is a small district, with approximately 100 students.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
