Here's a brief synopsis of what has been happening in Ypsilanti, MI. The adjacent Ypsilanti and Willow Run school districts have been in financial difficulty for years because of falling enrollment and reduced funding from the Republican-controlled state legislature. Last November, voters in the two districts approved a merger that should help save a lot of money. A new transitional school board was appointed by the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (county-wide authority) and they had to hire a new superintendent for the consolidated district.

Rather than show some leadership and hire someone new, board president David Bates wanted to retain both of the existing superintendents from the now defunct districts. The main rationale given besides the fact that they were familiar with the schools and staffs, the board would have to pay both of them the remainder of their contracts for up to 3 more years anyway.

However, at the same time the contracts of all the staff unions including teachers and support staff have been cancelled because districts that negotiated them will no longer exist at the end of the current school year. Apparently there is nothing in the superintendent contracts that explicitly says they must be paid if the district no longer exists. 

So why would the new consolidated district be able to cancel union contracts but not administrators? For financially struggling school districts, paying administrators $200,000 a year, this is a big chunk of money when everyone else is being forced to sacrifice at the same time.