The big payday: Ackerman scores huge severance deal

Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's $905,000 buyout appears to be one of the most generous ever awarded to a superintendent anywhere in the country.

And it's not even the first time she's been paid NOT to work.

She received a $375,000 buyout from the San Francisco Unified School District in 2005.

The buyout she received today is much higher than the $180,000 that former Philadelphia schools CEO Paul Vallas got when he left in 2007. Former Camden superintendent Annette Knox was given a $200,000 severance package when she left in 2006.

Earlier this month, the Dallas Morning News reported that school districts in Texas had paid out $7.7 million to buy out superintendents in recent years. Since 2005, approximately 71 superintendents in the state had been offered buyouts, the paper reported, with most receiving six-figure paychecks.

Earlier this year, the school board in Gettysburg, Pa. agreed to buy out former superintendent William Hall's contact for approximately $542,250. That reportedly included two years worth of mortgage payments for a home he purchased through the school district.

In 2007, the school board in Little Rock, Ark. agreed to pay former superintendent Roy Brooks $600,000 in severance.