When consultants are paid more than teachers

While I have no problems with staunchly defending the American public school system, which has been the most successful educational experiment in history, it is also easy to see how the seductive siren song of school vouchers has been able to attract so many.
Obviously money has something to do with it, but so do emptyheaded administrators who do not have the common sense to know when something is not going to look good to the public.
Janese Heavin, the education reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune, has an article in today's edition about the Columbia Public Schools hiring an ex-administrator and paying him $28,000 more than a first year teacher in many schools across the state (and veteran teachers in some school districts)...just to serve as a consultant for buying property, something which you would think would fall under the superintendent's job description:

Columbia Public Schools has paid consultant Chris Mallory $28,350 in the past year for helping the district find new school sites.

Mallory, a former assistant superintendent, helped the district acquire 80 acres southeast of Columbia from former Boone County farmer Turner Vemer. Mallory’s total salary includes an $18,750 finder’s fee for Vemer’s land, based on 1 percent of the 40 acres sold and 1.5 percent of the 40 acres donated. The rest of the charges come from $75 an hour for 128 hours of work.

The Columbia school district in June voted to use the Vemer site for a third major high school. Since then, community members have criticized the district for keeping the site-selection process secretive.

District administrators have said land negotiations have to be privately conducted to avoid jeopardizing prices.

Superintendent Phyllis Chase hired Mallory last year. According to documents obtained by the Tribune, he began work Sept. 1. The superintendent is not required to seek approval from the Columbia Board of Education before hiring consultants.

Mallory referred questions about his job duties to district administrators. Mallory does not have a contract with the school district but works on an as-needed basis, Assistant Superintendent Lynn Barnett said.

"He was supposed to be quietly talking to people in the community that he’d worked with before to see what would be available," Barnett said. "He was supposed to keep his ears and eyes open."

Boone Re/Max Realtor John John said the district’s agreement with Mallory is a "bargain." John’s transaction fee is 6 percent of the land’s appraised value. He also charges $150 an hour, fees that are later waived if a transaction is finalized.

Through the state’s Open Meetings and Records Law, the Tribune requested all correspondence between Mallory and the school district since Jan. 1, 2006. Much of that communication was conducted over the telephone, so documentation is limited, Barnett said.

Apparently, the land deal recommended by the consultant, complete with his finder's fee, was selected over another offer, in which a tract of land would have simply been donated to the school district.
At a time when the actions of public schools have been under intense scrutiny, you would think school officials would make better use of the limited amount of money they have.