West VALlEY'MISSION Community College District John E.hendrickson, Chancellor PIli Saratoga, Ca 95070·5698 F

Boards of Trustees approve overly generous benefits to themselves which include the following: • Fully paid health benefits for trustees and their families (often exceeding those of teachers and/or with no payment ceiling) • Excessive travel and conference costs • Pension contribution District Response to Finding 1 Disagree. The Board of Trustees current monthly stipend of $400 has not changed for at least 10years. In addition, the Board isoffered fully paid health benefits, there are no pension contributions and travel and conference costs have been minimized.

Boards of Trustees are approving overly generous benefits to Superintendents and Chancellors. District Response to Finding 2 Disagree. The District offers the same benefit package to the Chancellor asthe rest of its employees. In addition, the Chancellor is paid a monthly mileage stipend in lieu of claiming mileage expenses and housing allowance. The Board of Trustees has not increased the Chancellor's salary that was negotiated in July 2008. Board of Trnstees JACK lUCAS, Ed.D., President· CHRIS CONSTAl'-.'TIN,VicePresident· ADRIENNE GREY' ROBERT T.OWENS' BUCKPOLK' CHRISTOPHER STAMPOLIS•CHAD WALSH Building Silicon Valley's Future ... One Student at a Time. WEST VALLEY COllEGE, SARATOGA' MISSION COllEGE, SANTA CLARA

Superintendent salaries and increases appear to bear no relationship to the number of schools, students, and employees they oversee, nor their district's academic improvement. District Response to Finding 3 Disagree. The Chancellor's salary is comparable to community college districts of similar size and complexity.

Boards of Trustees hires costly search firms to recruit successors for retiring or dismissed Superintendents/ ChanceIlors. District Response to Finding 4 Disagree. The District's last search for the Chancellor's position was done at a cost of $28,000. The District used afirm that specializes in community college administrative hiring.

Boards of Trustees approve the hiring of multiple private attorneys, in some cases at a tremendous expense. District Response to Finding 5 Disagree. Every four years, the District solicits a Request for Proposal for legal services. The District uses one primary law firm to help the District deal with negotiations, personnel issues, student services and administrative matters.

The operation of 34 K-12 school districts and four community college districts creates excessively high management and administrative costs. Five K-12 school districts have excessively high Superintendent costs per student which is reflective of the district's having only one or two schools. District Response to Finding 6 Disagree. The current structure of the District is appropriate to the size and complexity of a multi college district. A survey of other community colleges that are of similar size shows management and administrative costs within the median range. Boards of Trustees should carefully review the benefits listed in Finding 1and: • Eliminate health benefits for Board Members • Minimize travel and conference costs • Eliminate pension contributions District Response to Recommendation 1 The recommendation has been partially implemented. Some of the Board members continue to receive health benefits. The district reviews on an annual basisthe benefit plans offered for its employees and the Board of Trustees. The budget for travel and conference for the Board of Trustees isvery limited. Further, there are no pension contributions.