Potomac News: Equal exposure
Equal exposure
http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/opinion/article/equal_exposure/5475/
Published: March 18, 2008
Taxpayer-funded salaries are public information and the people have the right to see what anybody who works for the government makes.
Some readers have criticized this newspaper for its inclusion of an online database of Prince William County teacher salaries on our Web site. Some of the criticisms have focused on the fact that any teacher’s name and salary can be found.
Why not just publish the names and salaries of administrators? Why expose the salaries of teachers, who want to do nothing more than educate our children?
Our role, as a newspaper, is to provide the public with the information they are entitled to see. In doing this, we have to be fair and to shine our spotlight on all public employees equally.
It would not make sense for us to publish the names and salaries of those high up in the administration without also publishing the names and salaries of teachers. Just because teachers make less does not mean their information is any more private than the superintendent, deputy superintendent or central office staffers. And where would we draw the line? Certainly not by job or by salary level; some teachers earn more than administrative employees.
Some callers and writers have suggested that we could have just published people’s titles, rather than their names, and accomplished the same goal. But the top earners like the superintendent, deputy superintendent, principals and others could have still been identified. Publishing titles would give the illusion of protecting privacy without actually doing so.
In the end, we decided we would provide our readers with all the information we could.
If taxpayers fund a position, they have the right to know how much they are paying so they can determine whether the employee is worth that salary. That’s what the law says and we agree.
We did not censor. We did not obfuscate. We did not sugarcoat. We just gave you easy access to your information.
http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/opinion/article/equal_exposure/5475/
Published: March 18, 2008
Taxpayer-funded salaries are public information and the people have the right to see what anybody who works for the government makes.
Some readers have criticized this newspaper for its inclusion of an online database of Prince William County teacher salaries on our Web site. Some of the criticisms have focused on the fact that any teacher’s name and salary can be found.
Why not just publish the names and salaries of administrators? Why expose the salaries of teachers, who want to do nothing more than educate our children?
Our role, as a newspaper, is to provide the public with the information they are entitled to see. In doing this, we have to be fair and to shine our spotlight on all public employees equally.
It would not make sense for us to publish the names and salaries of those high up in the administration without also publishing the names and salaries of teachers. Just because teachers make less does not mean their information is any more private than the superintendent, deputy superintendent or central office staffers. And where would we draw the line? Certainly not by job or by salary level; some teachers earn more than administrative employees.
Some callers and writers have suggested that we could have just published people’s titles, rather than their names, and accomplished the same goal. But the top earners like the superintendent, deputy superintendent, principals and others could have still been identified. Publishing titles would give the illusion of protecting privacy without actually doing so.
In the end, we decided we would provide our readers with all the information we could.
If taxpayers fund a position, they have the right to know how much they are paying so they can determine whether the employee is worth that salary. That’s what the law says and we agree.
We did not censor. We did not obfuscate. We did not sugarcoat. We just gave you easy access to your information.
