The original story is in the Sunday Times here
The Sunday times is asking... well see for yourselves.
Pay special attention to the purple bit and then convince me that Barrow, although some parts of it do look like Beirut some days, is an inner city.
THE salaries of the best-paid state school headteachers have risen to almost £200,000, overtaking the pay packet of the headmaster of Eton College, according to new figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The data show that two principals at academies, Labour's semi-independent state comprehensives, were paid between £190,000 and £199,999 in 2008/09. Tony Little of Eton, is paid £180,000--£189,999 and is believed to be the highest-paid private-sector head.
The data show the emergence of an elite of at least 11 academy principals, condemned by critics as "fat cats" paid more than £150,000. This was an increase from six the previous year. A third of academies have yet to submit accounts.
In addition, seven heads working for local authority-controlled schools were paid in excess of this figure in 2008, the latest year for which figures were available.
The salaries may even understate the total packages received, because many heads receive generous bonuses and add-on payments for running spin-off businesses based on school premises. Some also charge consultancy fees for advising other schools on how to improve results.
Vernon Coaker, the schools minister, said: "Being the head of a school is a very challenging, but also very rewarding role. We know that the best heads deliver leadership which raises aspirations for all pupils and makes everyone feel part of a team. The difference good leadership can make is beyond measure; it can make or break a school.
"That's why it's right salaries are competitive and we allow schools further flexibility to reward the best candidates meaning schools that are underperforming or have challenging circumstances can actually recruit and retain the best heads."
Academies, which are often among the toughest inner-city schools to run, are not subject to the same salary restrictions that apply to mainstream state schools and they pay high figures to attract the best candidates.
Alasdair Smith, national secretary of the Anti-Academies Alliance, said: "In addition to millions squandered on consultancies, we now have unaccountable, fat-cat headteachers shamelessly enriching themselves at public expense.
"It is yet more evidence that the academies programme is not fit for purpose and it is a pointer to what will happen if the next government extend the market in education."
According to a study received last week, the average secondary school head earns £74,000. Although the maximum salary possible is in theory £109,658 for inner London and £102,734 elsewhere, pay is in practice raised far higher by bonuses and other deals.
State school teachers were once seen as under-paid, but have seen salaries soar under Labour. This helped plug shortages in key areas of teaching, but has led to a series of rows over "excessive" pay packets for heads.
Sir Alan Davies, former headmaster of Copland, a comprehensive in Brent, west London, is being investigated by Scotland Yard over a series of generous payments. In a single year, he was allegedly paid more than £400,000 in a single year after clinching a series of lucrative deals including a contract to work as "project manager" on a development at his own school.
His extra payments are said to have totalled £600,000 over five years in addition to his six-figure salary.
Davies resigned amid claims of financial mismanagement by the governors.
Greg Martin, head at Durand primary school in Stockwell, south London, more than doubled his £70,000 salary by charging fees for managing the school's health spa and other facilities.
More proof, if it were needed, that Labours obsession with us all 'equal under the sun' is pure hokum.
Even old Vernon, a dyed in the wool socialist, actually embraces the free market economy his party derides!
"it's right salaries are competitive and we allow schools further
flexibility to reward the best candidates"
What makes it even more unbearable is when the fatcat is totally incapable oe doing the job.
no. at £135,000 Doug is a bargain if these incredible figures are true!
About as much of a bargain as moira swann I would say....
A bargain is only a bargain if you have a need and a use for it and not just buying for the sake of it!!