Dear Editor,

I appreciate the list of high salary Pickens County School District people published in the paper

There are 2,200 employees in the Pickens County School District and only 1,200 teachers.

The School District spends approximately $10,000 per pupil. There are roughly 24 children in each class room.

Multiplying the number of students in a class room by $10,000 yields $240,000.

Each teacher gets paid an average of $48,000 per year plus benefits. In most corporate businesses the benefits portion is 40% of the salary or $19,200. The cost per teacher is $67,200.

The key question is where all the rest of the $240,000 goes.

Could it be the high end salaries of the 1,000 employees who are not teachers?

One of my friends used to work at the school district main office. She described the people who worked there as “seat warmers”.

The way to bring the school district budget in line with reality is to reduce and eliminate the “seat warmers”.

Weldon Clark

Liberty