This is why school taxes are so high

A story that just leaves you shaking your head in today's edition of The Mercury

In "Administrators to get two raises this year," reporter Evan Brandt states that top administrators in the Pottstown School District were unanimously awarded raises — one as high as 18 percent — adding nearly $90,000 to the district's payroll.

And the administrators will be eligible for another raise just six months from now!!!!!!!!!

The raises for administrators, many of whom are making six-figure salaries to begin with, have no direct impact on the quality of education offered in the Pottstown School District.

I've written before that Pennsylvania has too many school districts (501) and too many administrators. Everyone one of those school districts has a superintendent, a bunch of assistant superintendents, business managers, transportation directors, etc.

You can't blame these people for trying to get every last dollar they can for themselves. In many cases, administrators don't even live in the district they work in, so they don't care about taxpayers in those districts.

The blame has to go with spineless school board members who bend over backwards to please these administrators, who often recommend the raises for themselves.

What's so tough about saying "No" to these overpaid paper-shufflers?

In addition to state and federal mandates, you can blame teacher salaries and administrator salaries for runaway school property tax increases in Pennsylvania. The losers are the students and the taxpayers.