A performance bonus for Washoe County School District Superintendent Traci Davis was scheduled for vote during the board of trustees meeting Tuesday, but she quashed the subject before the meeting began.
“At this time, I do not believe it would be prudent to accept a performance bonus,” Davis said in a statement that was emailed to the media three hours before the board convened. “I would rather we spend our energy and focus on building schools and moving the district forward as we continue to improve our outcomes for every child, by name and face, to graduation.”
Davis currently earns $249,900 annually and gets an $800 per month vehicle allowance. She received an automatic five percent pay raise and was also eligible for an additional bonus of up to 10 percent of her base salary.
Following Tuesday’s meeting, Davis didn’t expand on her earlier statement.
“I just refused the bonus overall,” Davis said. “There will be no discussion.”
David Carter, who was elected last month to the state Board of Education, told trustees during public comment that Davis makes more than the governor and state judges. Gov. Brian Sandoval’s base salary was about $155,000 in 2015, according to Transparent Nevada. Nevada Supreme Court justices earn about $215,000.
“It’s very upsetting when you have any superintendent in any district making more than the governor,” Carter said.
Davis noted after the meeting that anybody who wants to question her salary can look at the prior superintendents, who were paid identical starting base salaries. Davis was appointed interim superintendent in fall 2014 and the board voted her in as superintendent in summer 2015.
Former superintendent Pedro Martinez was making about $271,000 when he resigned after a dispute with the board in 2014; and his predecessor, Heath Morrison, was making $259,000 when he resigned in 2011 to take a position in North Carolina.
