Paying the piper, after a salary windfall

Would you notice if you overpaid someone by $8,000?

Would you notice if someone overpaid you by $8,000?

In Grayslake Elementary District 46, the answers are, respectively, "yes, eventually" and "apparently not."

In all, the school district overpaid $92,106 to 13 teachers and classroom assistants. The teacher with the highest overpayment got an extra $8,846 during the 2006-07 school year, more than 10 percent higher than the $85,133 approved salary.

Two other teachers got $8,376 and $8,406. One classroom assistant received double her usual pay, taking in about her entire $19,733 salary for the school year by January, halfway through the school year.

We know what you're thinking: How do I get a job in District 46?

To that we'd add: How could employees not question pay increases that reached double digits? (We hope they don't teach math.)

And why did the school district agree that one-third of the money won't have to be paid back?

Superintendent Ellen Correll said most of the 13 didn't know their salaries were wrong, and only one teacher has repaid the district so far. Eight more teachers are negotiating repayment plans or having money deducted from their paychecks to make up the $60,682 that was overpaid.

The school district won't get back the $31,424 that was overpaid to four assistants. As a result of a settlement with the Lake County Federation of Teachers' Grayslake union, three of the assistants will work extra duties to make up what they owe. The fourth -- the one whose pay doubled -- resigned and won't repay the money as part of the deal.

Accountability is in order at district offices, not to punish but to assure residents that the people handling their tax dollars are qualified to do it. It's especially hard to believe that the errors in the teachers' salaries did not trigger a thorough investigation when they were discovered last July. It was six months later, in January, that the overpayment to the assistants came to light.

In a time when every penny is precious and taxpayers are under constant pressure to contribute more, losing track of $92,106 is inexcusable.

A special audit and other planned safeguards -- more eyes on the payroll, notifying employees of their correct salaries once a year -- obviously are long overdue.

As for the employees, if salary schedules are so complex that getting an extra $8,000 a year doesn't strike anyone as odd, it's time to go into the next set of contract negotiations with one particular goal: simplification.