Questions raised over pay of Philadelphia school system lawyers
While Philadelphia School District officials continue combing their books for nearly $40 million in spending cuts needed to balance next year's budget, one group of school employees appears to be safe from the ax: lawyers. The district's Office of General Counsel will receive a slight increase of $325,074 in 2008-09, bringing its total outlay to $13.5 million, according to the budget proposal presented during City Council hearings. The head of the office, General Counsel Sherry A. Swirsky, and the 18 attorneys who work for her are not only among the highest-paid school employees, but also make more than the attorneys who work for Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham and City Solicitor Shelley R. Smith. The school attorneys' high salaries caught the eye of City Council President Anna Verna during the hearings. "I just can't fathom what they do seven or eight hours a day, five days a week," Verna said. "That's something that I would definitely want to look into."
Others have begun questioning why a district that pays its teachers among the lowest salaries in the region, and which this year will spend nearly $2.9 million for assistance from private law firms, must pay its in-house attorneys so much more than other city lawyers. Swirsky, the second-highest-paid school district employee behind interim CEO Tom Brady, makes $236,900 a year. The average salary for her 18 lawyers is $101,000. "Do we really need to be paying Sherry Swirsky more than the D.A.?," asked Greg Wade, president of the Philadelphia Home and School Council, the city's largest parents' group. "As troubled as our schools are, they are not on a scale like that, having to deal with all the crime in the city," he said. "I have to question why these school lawyers are making that kind of money. There's something wrong there, and that really needs to be looked into." "I hope that the district will be equally as generous when it comes to negotiating raises for members of my bargaining unit," said Jerry Jordan, president of the 16,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
Swirsky defended the salaries paid to her and her staff, saying that they have more experience than other city-government lawyers, and more responsibilities. Five of her attorneys work in the area of contract law, Swirsky said, four in special-education law, one on charter-school issues, two in civil rights and tort litigation, one in claims, one in commercial litigation, two in labor and employment law and two in school law. "School districts are the most highly regulated institutions that exist," she said. "We get federal and state grants with very technical compliance issues.
“We're a little different than other government law departments in that we have no entry-level positions," she said. “The least experienced person [in her office] has 10 years' experience. The most experienced, including myself, have 30 or more years of experience. Whereas, with the D.A.'s Office and the City Solicitor's Office, they have people right out of law school. It would not be possible for someone without a substantial amount of legal experience to practice in this office," she added. A spot check found that Philadelphia's school attorneys cost taxpayers more than attorneys in other cities.
Source: Philadelphia Daily News, 5/19/08, By Mensah M. Dean
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Editor’s Note: The article excerpted above provides comparative information on attorney pay in other Philadelphia departments and in other urban school systems.
Someone should suggest Council President Verna subscribe to Legal Clips
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