Lamont Jackson was recently hired to become the new superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District. Jackson takes over for Cindy Marten, who is now the Deputy Secretary of Education in the Biden administration. San Diego Unified has been marred in controversies since the COVID-19 pandemic.
From reopening, sports shutdown and vaccine mandates, San Diego Unified has been heavily criticized by parent groups for not listening to parents and taxpayers. While many parents who send their children struggled during the pandemic and continue to with rising gas prices and inflation, Superintendent Jackson will have a big new salary and an allowance to go with his new job.
The SDUSD Board gave Jackson a salary of $375,000 a year. That is a 29% increase from previous superintendent Cindy Marten’s salary of $290,907. Jackson was serving as interim superintendent and had a salary of $280,000 a year. On top of his salary, Jackson will receive a $15,000 car allowance. The board says that they took many factors into consideration, including geography and inflation. But inflation is up 8% from a year ago, not 29%. Jackson’s salary is also higher than four of the five largest school districts in the nation: New York City, Miami-Dade, Chicago, and Clark County. A big difference from those schools compared to San Diego is that those districts enroll more than 300,000 students whereas San Diego Unified enrolls around 95,000.
Parents around San Diego Unified have been struggling for the past two years. Coronavirus shut down the schools when they did not need to be which put a strain on children’s education and parents who struggled to find time between work and watching their children. Instead of trying to help parents, the board gave a massive salary increase that really did not need to happen.
Photo Cred: Fox 5 San Diego
