Philadelphia schools chief surprised by attention to her bonus

The bonus is enough to pay a teacher for at least a year.

The head of the Philadelphia School District has been given a bonus big enough to pay a teacher for a year. The extra money is part of incentives built into her contract.

Since Philadelphia School CEO Arlene Ackerman met certain performance goals, her contract requires a $65,000 bonus on top of her $325,000 salary. School district spokesman Evelyn Sample Oates says the CEO is surprised people are even commenting on her salary.

“She’s shocked that there’s so much attention to her contract. Out of the seven school districts she’s been in this is the first one where there’s been a lot of attention. But she’s proud of the benchmarks that she’s reached under her contract. She’s happy with the progress, but she knows there’s a lot more work to do and she’s ready willing and able to do it.”

Sample Oates says even though the bonus is about the average salary of a district teacher, she says contract incentives are common for district CEO’s She says Ackerman does make donations back to the children.