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West suburban lawmakers announced a package of bills Monday aimed at punishing the College of DuPage for giving President Robert Breuder a lucrative severance package and at preventing other taxing bodies from approving similar buyouts. […]

The legislative moves come nearly a week after College of DuPage trustees took an unusual revote to approve a $763,000 severance deal for Breuder, who will retire in March 2016 from the publicly funded community college in Glen Ellyn. The buyout agreement also promises to name the school’s homeland security education center after him.

More than 400 people — including several state lawmakers from the area — attended the revote meeting to denounce the deal, which some trustees now say was done to end Breuder’s current contract early. Breuder, whose total compensation last year was about $484,000, was under contract until 2019, according to an agreement that had been secretly changed by the trustees over the years.

On the severance issue, trustees also were under fire for possibly violating the state’s Open Meetings Act, which requires a public recital of the matter being considered, during an earlier vote.

* The House Republicans summed up the legislative proposals, most of which are still being drafted by LRB…

Representative Batinick is seeking legislation that will provide a recall mechanism for all non-home rule units of government. The legislation includes community college boards of trustees.

Representative Breen is seeking legislation that would cap the amount of allowable severance agreements passed by community college trustees. Breen is seeking to cap such agreements to the equivalent of one year’s salary plus benefits.

Representative Breen is [also] seeking legislation that would bar community colleges from expending state dollars from any state fund, property tax funds or student tuition dollars on severance agreements that exceed the equivalent of one year’s salary plus benefits.

A redraft of HB3289 (Ives, 98th) has been submitted to LRB with additional language pertaining to College of DuPage. Representative Ives has added a 14-day public posting requirement for contracts with salary in excess of $150,000.

HR 55 (Ives) - Directs the Auditor General to conduct a performance audit of the state moneys provided to College of DuPage for FY11 through FY14.

HB 303 - Representative McDermed has introduced legislation that includes severance and settlement agreements that use public funds in the Freedom of Information Act. The legislation is essentially what was introduced in response to the Metra severance scandal in 2013.

Representative Sandack is seeking legislation that will reduce the amount of state money available to community college boards should they take action similar to College of DuPage. If a community college uses state moneys for severance agreements, the community college will have the same amount deducted from the next disbursement by the Comptroller immediately following board action.

Representative Wehrli is seeking legislation to shorten all community college trustee terms to four years from six years. The language will provide that, in order for staggered terms to survive, trustees elected in 2017 will serve two year terms and then trustees elected in 2019 will henceforth serve four year terms. Trustees elected in 2015 will serve until 2021 but then trustees elected in 2021 will henceforth serve four year terms.

* The Question: Which of these proposals do you like? Which ones do you not like? Explain, please.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:15 pm

Comments

Capping severance packages to something reasonable is ideal. I’ve seen public contracts for 5 years that include a severance package to pay the entire term of the contract and then some.

These contracts really need to come back to earth.

Comment by John Bambenek Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:21 pm
Restricting the use of State funds on severance packages. Everything else looks like overkill.

Comment by Trstmay Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:25 pm
Limit severance to 1 year max., and actually, that is generous.

Comment by DuPage Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:25 pm
I like this one:

===Representative Wehrli is seeking legislation to shorten all community college trustee terms to four years from six years.===

Honestly, I didn’t even realize we had six-year terms for these boards. Four is plenty, stagger them if necessary, but six years is too long.

I vote Aye.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:26 pm
Sandack’s might be the best. If they want to lavish state money on a president who is leaving, make sure that money comes out of their operating money. Should give them pause knowing it will cost them dearly for any golden parachute they decide to hand out.

Comment by Roadiepig Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:27 pm
HR 55 and NB 303 strike my fancy, along with others…

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:30 pm
None of these measures are enough. I would like to see a ban on severance packages for public administrators. Just fire them- reward for performance.

Comment by Liberty Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:31 pm
Of all of them, Sandack’s would be most effective. More effective still would be to double the amount reduced.

Comment by phocion Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:37 pm
Maybe the question should be why does C of D want Breuder out? One piece I found indicated a few folks were unhappy because Breuder got cute in trying to secure $20 million the state owed. See,

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/25/community-college-presidents-leaked-email-shows-plan-trade-political-support-state

The pols seem to be demogoguing the issue.

Comment by Cook County Commoner Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:49 pm
Batnick — Why not ALL offices?
Breen — Not a bad idea to cap largesse.
Ives — Waking up from a nothing first term. Not a bad wake-up.
McDermed — Good luck with that.
Sandack — Who? Who? Who? (can’t resist, OW)
Werhli — Reasonable first effort. Doable.

Ives and Breen spoke at the special COD meeting, both crowd pleasers. The rest seem like they’re piling on late for the publicity. Adam Andrzejewski got pushed to the side pretty effectively by those recent spotlight seekers.

Comment by Toure's Latte Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:49 pm
I’m supporting anything that helps protect state citizens from the poor decisions of a state college board. No reason why folks barely making ends meet need to be taxed for this guy’s lucrative bamboozle.

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:50 pm
Out here in DuPage County we have elections periodically for COD trustee. I’m pretty up on things politically, but truthfully haven’t paid any attention to whose running, what they stand for and so forth. The races for that office have, in the past, packed as much excitement as watching paint dry.

Now, given the ongoing scandal over there, and the cushy parachute Mr Breuder gets for leaving, I’d be willing to bet that alot more people are going to pay attention next ime around.

Comment by train111 Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:58 pm
Just a reminder to all that the Breuder severance kerfuffle involves the self same Robert Breuder who last summer exposed his extreme email logorrhoea related to demanding “his” 20 million in state funding for a non-existent COD project.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20140702/news/140709731/

At the very least the trustees should have been aware of the poisoned optics and increased scrutiny of any financial dealings related to him.
Answer to QOD–Restrict trustee terms to 4 years (Wehrli) and severely limit any use of state funds for severance packages (Breen).

Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 12:58 pm
This situation definitely puts higher Ed Ina trick bag when they oppose budget cuts.

Comment by Beans and Franks Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:00 pm
Run all the proposals through the legislative sausage grinder.

No additional costs should be incurred by the state for bad operational decisions by a local body.

Separation deals are too generous in the public sector as a whole. They don’t have to be as outrageous as this one, but the accelerated ramp up in educators salaries is another example of abuse of the taxpayers.

Comment by plutocrat03 Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:07 pm
The problem is in the contract. There obviously were serious problems with this president and his ability to lead the college. But he had a signed contract. Unless he broke the law, removing him could have resulted in lengthy and expensive litigation.

I don’t agree with what the board did but they probably figured it was the best way to cut ties with him. That being said, he’s around for another year, has a voice in selection of the next prez and gets a building named after him. Wow!

Comment by Because I Said So.... Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:09 pm
As usual Sandack’s proposal misses the mark and would punish the school and students for sins they had nothing to do with.

Let’s have a little clarity here. This whole bruhaha is being promoted by former tea party congressman Joe Walsh of WIND radio, Adam Andrzejewski and trustee Kathy Hamilton who is hoping to replace Savage, Svoboda and the retiring O’Donnell with her 3 allies in a tea party takeover.

By getting Breuder out 3 years early they are saving the college about $2 million in salary and perks and…getting him out 3 years early. The vote was 6 to 1 to send him on his way in an orderly transition, unlike the previous board which at one time was paying three presidents, two for doing nothing. The only vote against was the tea partier Hamilton who claims she wants to fire him for cause and save COD money but can’t explain what that cause would be. And if she wants to save the college money maybe she should get her buddy Andrzejewski to drop his lawsuit before it starts costing taxpayers big bucks in legal fees. Everybody knows it was she who publicized Breuder’s hamhanded email to the trustees last summer which cost the college $20 million the state owed COD for over a decade. With actions like that it’s pretty clear she and her allies don’t have the college’s or taxpayer’s financial interests at heart.

I urge anyone who wants to see where she’s coming from to go watch the WTTW interview with Jodi Cohen from the Trib and Eddie Arruza of Channel 11. She’s as articulate as Sarah Palin and don’t kid yourself, if you vote for her friends you’re voting for Joe Walsh and Adam Andrzejewski pulling the strings at COD.

Comment by markg8 Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:10 pm
If I’m choosing, the moving to 4-year terms I like the best.

You win and get re-elected, that’s 12 years with community oversight once, and that’s if you have a race. Facing the voters quicker than 6 years, in a local office like that makes more sense.

( tips cap to - Toure’s Latte -)

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:11 pm
To make matters even more absurd, these colleges are pushing legislation that would make them into four-year universities. Just imagine the spending and goofy decisions if that were to happen.

Comment by Chad Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:11 pm
I’d favor both of Breen’s, Ives audit, and Wehrli’s change of term. The others have merit, but need a little more ripening.

Comment by A guy Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:18 pm
HR 55 and HB 303 would be a good start.

The College of DuPage was once an honorable institution that served an important need.

Today it’s a slush-fund with a football team.

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:19 pm
The best of the bunch is the 4 year term proposal. Combine the recall provision with it and the arrogance of some of these boards will dissipate.

Comment by Louis G Atsaves Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:19 pm
Here is the vote from May 7th 2013 when as a last act of defiance then chair David Carlin (and current board candidate) pushed thru the vote to name the Homeland Security Center after Breuder. Voting against were Savage, Svoboda and McGuire.

http://www.cod.edu/about/board_of_trustees/pdf/minutes/2013may7min_sbm.pdf

Comment by markg8 Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:25 pm
Some of these board seats are for 6 years, some are for 2. Don’t ask me why.

Comment by markg8 Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:26 pm
Markg8 and Because I Said So provide some valuable backstory, but there must be more about this Breuder dude. What has he done, how did he get the job and why is this kind of payout justified even if it’s cheaper than keeping his contract? Who does he think he is, a Big 10 football coach?

Comment by D.P.Gumby Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:37 pm
“punish the school”

The Board kept adding years to Breuder’s contract to keep a long time remaining to deliberately create a need for a large bailout. Apparently the school has to be punished for the behavior of a board of questionable intelligence.

Comment by plutocrat03 Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:44 pm
I thought Breen was a conservative, but yet he seems to want to interfere with a contract.

The guy had a contract with a certain term. The Board apparently wanted to breach it (or thought their actions might be construed as breach) so they negotiated damages. That’s freedom of contract.

Apparently, Breen is against freedom.

I do like Sandack’s proposal. If they enter into terrible contracts, the state should stop funding them. If the school suffers, well, that’s what happens when you put terrible people on a Board.

The other issue here is that somebody needs to fire the lawyer who negotiated the contract for the Board. They didn’t leave themselves a way out? A cheap buy out should have been written in (or better yet, a cancel for convenience clause). If he didn’t sign, find somebody else who would sign.

Overall, the Board looked terrible from start to finish. Sandack is right. They should have less of our money to waste.

Comment by Gooner Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 1:50 pm
Recall is dumb. I’ve never like the idea. I don’t like “do overs.” If you don’t like how somebody is doing their job then you can vote them out the next election.

Fund restriction on severance packages seems reasonable.

Not sure I like the idea of posting a contract before it’s voted on.

Auditor General audit is just for show, but not a bad idea.

Don’t really like the dollar for dollar offset for severance agreements. Sometimes such agreements are in the best interest of all involved. Might combine that with the limitation on severance agreement payouts and make it dollar for dollar after that.

Term adjustments are probably the best idea.

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 2:02 pm
===Term adjustments are probably the best idea.===

The other options seem to me like more micromanaging from Springfield. If Breen or Ives or Sandack or any of them wants to run for the CoD board, fine with me.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 2:11 pm
Breuder told the board last March he was considering retiring. No reason was given but when he announced his decision in December he said time is precious. And he is 70.

Breuder was given a $550,000 severance by Harper in 2008, even when it was revealed he wasn’t retiring but moving to COD. They apparently liked him.

Here is a list of some of the accomplishments of COD over the last few years in the December announcement that Breuder won the CASE Region V Chief Executive Leadership Award which recognizes the work and contributions of top educational executives in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

http://www.cod.edu/news-events/news/14_october/14_case.aspx

Comment by markg8 Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 2:21 pm
Recall: I don’t really care one way or another, but we do have the ability for a statewide recall, so why not locally as well?

Severance cap seems reasonable for community colleges, but overall I do not think this is good public policy. Depending on the sector, this could really kill applications and hiring of good candidates.

The wholesale barring of state funds, property tax, and student tuition for severance packages is nonsense.

The 14-day notice thing is not necessarily a bad idea, but seems like poor public policy on a statewide basis.

Auditor General thing is just for show. Waste of time and money.

HB303 sounds good. Sandack’s legislation is unnecessary if Breen’s get passed. Typical Ron, a day late and dollar short because he put more time into tweeting than thinking.

I do not care one or the other on Wehrli’s proposal. I would want to know some of the history behind the current term length.

Comment by Precinct Captain Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 2:25 pm
I think that “voice in the selection of his successor” provision is more to keep him inside the tent while they look for new candidates. This guy just won a CASE award for college leadership. The last thing they need is him badmouthing the college to prospects. With the way he’s being vilified by opportunistic politicians of all stripes candidates are probably going to be skittish enough as it is.

Comment by markg8 Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 2:31 pm
If there are reasonable restrictions on buy outs (if any) for abandoning a contract early, then they should also apply to all superintendents of public educational establishments. They seem to operate in an alternate universe, which is abusive to the taxpayer.

And note: you can only “save” by buying someone out early to avoid their future salary, if you are not replacing them in the job. Any buyout amounts to paying two people for the same time period. It’s double compensation, from the perspective of the College or Board.

An ugly reality, and a hard lesson to learn, is that most of the “waste” and “abuse” in government in Illinois, is not by the state government itself, but in local municipalities, school boards and park districts. It never is for the benefit of the regular employees and teachers, but rather for the enrichment of top members of administrations. Ironically, many of the local boards across the state are controlled by folks who proudly call themselves “fiscal conservatives.”

The average voter and advocacy group rarely looks at their own neighbors and local officials as the real problem when it comes to wasting taxpayer money. To the Tea Party’s credit, at least in the northern and northwest Chicagoland suburbs, they have moved their focus to where the waste really is most prevalent — Local Government, not Federal or State.

Comment by walker Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 2:35 pm
“Breuder, whose total compensation last year was about $484,000, was under contract until 2019, according to an agreement that had been secretly changed by the trustees over the years.”

Wait, what? SECRETLY changed? How does that happen? What do these trustees have to say about this?

Oh, but prison barbers in Illinois make too much money. I’m sure glad Rauner has identified the Unions as the problem.

Comment by Nicholas Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 2:50 pm
I graduated from that institution in 1984. Sad to see it reduced to this. First the $20 million dollar debacle and now the mess with the pres. I could understand they may want to rid themselves of a bad president (if that is the rationale) but then to go and name a building after him?

?

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 3:01 pm
Agree 4-year terms should be enacted. Moreover the issue of severance packages should not just be for community colleges but for all school districts as well. In DuPage County more than 70% of the property tax bill funds education. This is a sensitive topic, and one the Tea Partiers are being vocal about.

Comment by Bogey Golfer Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 3:06 pm
The Open Meetings Act violation was a procedural mistake by the Chair Erin Birt who I believe did not ask for a second to close debate on the Breuder vote the first time around a few weeks ago. The college’s lawyer said they should hold the revote to make sure their Ts were crossed and Is dotted because Andrzejewski would sue them just for that if nothing else. He sued the college anyway because he’s all about saving the college money. LOL

Comment by markg8 Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 3:40 pm
Markg8–You’re doing a bang up job flacking for Breuder. However, at any point have you noticed this is a “Question of the Day” thread?

Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 3:52 pm
Responsa -
markg8 is bringing to light things that should have appeared in the Trib.

Comment by Smitty Irving Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 4:04 pm
===markg8 is bringing to light things that should have appeared in the Trib===

Agreed.

“Look, man, I’ve got certain information, all right? Certain things have come to light.”

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 4:25 pm
I think the Sandack proposal to move school board elections to the fall is counterproductive, from the perspective of a Republican. The teachers unions are heavily engaged in fall elections, and the end result will be that more of their preferred candidates (which will favor higher taxes, more spending, and greater deference to administrators) will populate school boards.

Comment by Sage Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 4:51 pm
How about a bill that would make the board pay the severance for making a bad decision, and let them then decide the severance package.

Move to a 4-year term. Severely limit severance and put that in the contract.

Comment by Sunshine Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 5:13 pm
COD is a decent community college. Some commenters are pushing to hard on this situation. Yes, the e-mail issue from last summer was foolish, and yes, the severance vote was ill-advised. But don’t tarnish the whole institution, please.

In terms of boards, four year terms are long enough, and stagger them to give some stability. Someone needs to study how these contracts get written in the first place- there’s no way that a lavish farewell gift like that should be legal.

But I don’t trust the legislature to come up with a formula that eliminates all future bad decisions by an elected board.

Comment by DuPage Dave Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 6:52 pm
Why limit this “golden parachute” abuse to JCs? In quantity, the abuse is far greater in K-12 public education, especially suburban HS districts. The “parachutes” have become commonplace at state colleges like UIUC, where admins are hired more for their willingness to allow political patronage and cronyism than keep tuition low by reducing excesses in overhead and non-academic overstaffing, let alone improving their sub-JC instruction quality for underclassmen.

While they’re at it, how about prohibiting hiring former elected pols and admins at ridiculous six figure salaries for a few lectures every semester, or for teaching classes that are so irrelevant that they can barely get enough students to sign up for them, such as in the case of their last disgraced President? Anything less than addressing this abuse throughout public education in Illinois is just pandering, and not a serious attempt at reform.

Comment by Arizona Bob Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 10:17 pm
==“Look, man, I’ve got certain information, all right? Certain things have come to light.”==

Heh. The Big Lebowski never gets old!

Comment by Responsa Tuesday, Feb 3, 15 @ 11:19 pm
Undiscussed here is why the Prez of a 2 yr college was making more than the POTUS and twice the $ of the Governor or anyone else in the executive branch of the State, to begin with. Or why he would consider accepting such a lucrative severance at the expense of taxpayers. Where is the concept of public service in all this? In 1990 even after a big increase tuition and fees at DuPage were $2565. If they had merely kept pace with inflation they would have risen to $4279 by 2010, but instead they increased by 400% in two decades — far outpacing Illinois wage growth. College of all sorts has become far less affordable for families, and fat packages for unaccountable college administrations, especially at public institutions, are a big part of the problem.

Comment by Harley Chebdeaux Wednesday, Feb 4, 15 @ 7:35 am