Saturday, May 21, 2005

I love public records

As part of a Google search on background of a candidate for an administrative position at school, I discovered a gem of a Web site. It lists salaries of pretty much every public employee in Washington state (including me, by the way) and is organized in a way that most people can easily understand.

My complaints are that it is a bit hard to navigate and the year, while clearly labeled, adds a bit of confusion. For example, on the salaries of school employees, it's not clear whether the monetary amount is for a fiscal year or calendar year. Nonetheless, I love poring over a bunch of information and just looking and learning, finding interesting patterns or revelations.

As for salary jealousy, we pay some people far too much and others nowhere near what they are worth. Obviously, experience and education is not the only way to determine salary, but those are the factors we use.

Check it out here. Scroll down to the section for public school districts.

-- Seattle, Wash.

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