Schools should study options to CSIU

Published: March 20, 2010

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The lucrative salary, pension and other benefits for Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (CSIU) director Robert G. Witten is, indeed, enough to raise eyebrows.

As pointed out at a Mount Carmel Area (MCA) School Board meeting on Thursday, Witten makes $284,000 a year. He's also eligible for a state pension that could reach $300,000 a year (the topic of Pennsylvania's outrageous pensions is a story in itself). There's another retirement fund for him with more than $200,000 in it, and his unused sick leave could add up to as much as $100,000.

As MCA board member Dr. Raymond Kraynak pointed out, Witten's salary is higher than that of Bloomsburg University's president ($197,500) and Gov. Rendell ($174,914). It's not too far off the salary of the president of the United States, which is $400,000.

No doubt others will join Kraynak in crying foul. And they should. To think Witten makes nearly three times as much as most local school superintendents, most of whom are approaching or in the low-six figure range themselves, in central Pennsylvania appears excessive.

But it's not so much that the CSIU is secretive, as Kraynak suggested. Most of us simply don't pay attention to the agency, in part because we don't understand its objectives or relationships to local schools and national clients. Indeed, Kraynak's own board is represented through the CSIU board, yet he and most of the rest of us never realized just how much Witten was paid.

Also, the media receives detailed agendas in advance of CSIU meetings. The News-Item has not attended a meeting, held at the headquarters in Montandon, in at least 10 years. Other media typically don't attend, and it's safe to bet few members of the public show either.

That doesn't make Gitten's excessive salary the fault of local school board members, the media or the public, but it does help explain how it can climb to that level without anyone clamoring about it.

At the same time, districts statewide have made movements away from intermediate units in pursuit of more affordable options for school services. As was pointed out at the MCA meeting, no district is obligated to purchase all of its services from the CSIU, unless mandated by the state to do so.

Unless the CSIU can make a strong case as to why its director makes so much money, local districts should pursue less expensive alternatives where practical.

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