Report: Roberts cuts salaries, gets brand new $40,000 SUV

Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Roy Roberts is riding in the lap of luxury.

According to WXYZ television in Detroit, at the same time Roberts was making a unilateral 10 percent cut to salaries in the district, he was also purchasing — at district expense — a $40,000 Chevrolet Tahoe. The television station reports the purchase was made based on advice and concerns from the DPS Public Safety Department.

But that still puts Roberts, who is making $250,000 per year at district expense, miles ahead of other large urban school district superintendents.

We checked with other large districts, virtually all of them in far better financial shape than DPS, to see how their superintendents got around. In the larger Houston, Memphis and Columbus school districts, superintendents use their own vehicles, opting to receive a monthly stipend instead. They average about $600 a month.

In Los Angeles and Chicago, their superintendents use less costly Ford Crown Vics that are several years old. Charlotte’s superintendent was offered a 2002 Buick Century, but declined; he drives his own car instead. And in Boston, their superintendent wouldn’t accept a car, or a stipend.

DPS employees are fighting Roberts’ 10 percent pay cut order in court.