Note: No reply was provided to my follow-up queries in the October 5, 2018 email below.
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Friday, October 5, 2018 4:54 PM
To: ‘John White’ <john2.white@pgcps.org>
Cc: ‘Demetria Tobias’ <demetria.tobias@pgcps.org>; ‘Shauna Battle’ <shauna.battle@pgcps.org>; ‘Erica Berry Wilson’ <erica.berry@pgcps.org>; ‘Monica Goldson CEO’ <ceo@pgcps.org>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act request
Dear Mr. White:
Thank you for your belated response to my August 23 and August 28 Public Information Act requests. You provided additional useful information. I have responded below to your responses (your responses are in italicized bold):
For FY2018, both budgeted and actual compensation related data for Kevin Maxwell, including Salary in 2018, was $299,937. Salary paid, as of July 1, 2018, was $310,434.87 and included the salary to which he was entitled as of September 17, 2018.
If I understand you correctly, you are claiming that these were the salary bases used to calculate Kevin Maxwell’s pension benefits. There are so many different definitions of salary used by Maryland public schools for different public relations purposes that it is important to be crystal clear on this definition.
The salary reported to the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (MSRPS) for Dr. Kevin Maxwell for FY2019 was $275,000; which is the IRC 401(a)(17) Annual Compensation Limit per MSRPS.
Does the $275,000 MSRPS limit include sick leave and other extraordinary payouts or are those outside the $275,000 limit? Did PGCPS query MSRPS about seeking an exemption to its various pension caps (it’s my understanding that these exemptions, when granted, are usually granted in secret)? Thank you for clarifying, if only implicitly in response to my question, that PGCPS would have violated the law if it didn’t match (using MSRPS’s mandated formula) Maxwell’s contribution to MSRPS.
PGCPS contributes to the appropriate Maryland State Retirement & Pension System (MSRPS) based on the quarterly bill received from the MSRPS. The quarterly bill is an aggregate amount that covers all employees enrolled in the teacher’s pension system.
Sure, but isn’t your payment to MSRPS based on a fixed percentage of salary paid (up to some maximum, as noted above)? If you know the relevant base salary, then you know your contribution to MSRPS. At a minimum, you MUST know what this percentage is for your own budgeting purposes. I am aware of no professionally run organization that doesn’t know the total compensation of one of its employees whether paid directly to the employee or indirectly to a government entity.
The bill is a consolidated bill and no detailed information is provided by the State. You will need to contact the State to obtain detailed information on the amount and how it is calculated for an individual employee.
As one of your own attorneys pointed out to me, MSRPS doesn’t provide pension related data at an individual level. Fortunately, you don’t need to ask MSRPS for what you contributed to Dr. Maxwell’s pension. As noted above, that has to be an essential part of your internal budgeting.
Benefits Services has no correspondence between PGCPS and the MSRPS regarding deferred compensation for Maryland superintendents.
I didn’t ask if Benefits Services has this information. I asked if PGCPS has this information, and the answer is yes. The implication of your statement is that PGCPS received no copy of the relevant laws from MSRPS.
The only correspondence concerning superintendent salary was between Board Counsel and Dr. Eubanks, which is attorney-client privileged and exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article section 4-301.
It’s not exempt if MSRPS passed onto Dr. Eubanks (or the Board of Education) any relevant laws, including statutes, regulations, meeting minutes, and other relevant information that is public under Maryland law. It’s a basic principle of democracy that the law should be meaningfully public. With rare exception, the courts frown on secret law. The principle as applied to this case is that the people deserve to understand the laws that determine how much its public employees are paid. You can redact the exempt communications, but the relevant laws passed onto PGCPS are public information. I’d like to call to your attention Monica Goldson’s promise to the public: “Hopefully, what they will feel is a different level of accountability than they felt before and more honesty and transparency. Every day won’t be perfect, but when it’s not, we’re going to own it, and we’re going to talk about what we’re going to do to improve and make it better. We’re working extremely hard to change the narrative about Prince George’s County.” I hope CEO Monica Goldson will take constructive ownership of this issue consistent with both the avowed spirit of Maryland’s Public Information Act and her public statement above claiming ownership of the transparency issue, including compensation transparency. I’m confident that everyone on this email distribution list is aware of how various exemptions to Maryland’s Public Information Act, including attorney-client privilege, have been abused and used inconsistent with the spirit of the Act. Let’s now ensure they’re not inconsistent with CEO Goldson’s intentions.
I recognize that the 30-day limits for your responding to both my August 23, 2018 and August 28, 2018 Public Information Act requests have expired. But I nevertheless hope that you will respond as soon as practicable to my queries above.
The public information I have requested is of great interest to the public, so I hope you will respond accordingly.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: John White <john2.white@pgcps.org>
Sent: Friday, October 5, 2018 2:38 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Cc: Demetria Tobias <demetria.tobias@pgcps.org>; Shauna Battle <shauna.battle@pgcps.org>; Erica Berry Wilson <erica.berry@pgcps.org>
Subject: Re: Public Information Act request
Hello Mr. Snider,
I am emailing a response to your public information act request below [copied below].
Best regards,
John White
Public Information Officer
Prince George’s County Public Schools
Sasscer Administration Building
14201 School Lane
Upper Marlboro, MD 20772
Office: 301-780-6814
Mobile: 240-691-6744
Email: John2.White@pgcps.org
www.pgcps.org | www.facebook.com/pgcps | www.twitter.com/pgcps
October 5, 2018
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL, net@jhsnider.net
Mr. J.H. Snider
Re: Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) Request regarding Dr. Maxwell’s compensation.
Our File No.: 17-99-0034
Dear Mr. Snider:
This letter is written in response to your email correspondence dated September 26, 2018, requesting the following information under the Maryland Public Information Act. I have provided responses in bold text below:
For the August 28, 2018 request: you did not provide Kevin Maxwell’s actual salary through September 26, 2018, the date you responded to this Public Information Act request, which is the actual date I requested. The last date he was CEO of PGCPS, according to his amended employment contract, was September 17, 2018.
For FY2018, both budgeted and actual compensation related data for Kevin Maxwell, including Salary in 2018, was $299,937. Salary paid, as of July 1, 2018, was $310,434.87 and included the salary to which he was entitled as of September 17, 2018.
Thank you for providing his budgeted base salary through the end of FY2019. However, I am interested in his total budgeted salary for FY2019, including payments for his various types of leave and other types of pay that would be used by the Maryland State Retirement Agency to calculate his final salary. Like the Retirement Agency, when the public thinks of salary, they think of total cash compensation, not a subset of it. Even if you cannot provide all the components of such a salary, you should be able to provide the aggregate amount, which is in your payroll database.
The salary reported to the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (MSRPS) for Dr. Kevin Maxwell for FY2019 was $275,000; which is the IRC 401(a)(17) Annual Compensation Limit per MSRPS.
Please confirm your assertion that PGCPS did not contribute to Kevin Maxwell’s pension while he was CEO through September 17, 2018. Wouldn’t that violate the law? But perhaps I am missing something.
PGCPS contributes to the appropriate Maryland State Retirement & Pension System (MSRPS) based on the quarterly bill received from the MSRPS. The quarterly bill is an aggregate amount that covers all employees enrolled in the teacher’s pension system.
The bill is a consolidated bill and no detailed information is provided by the State. You will need to contact the State to obtain detailed information on the amount and how it is calculated for an individual employee.
For the August 23, 2018 request: you did not provide a response to the requests for the following two sets of documents:
1. All correspondence between PGCPS and the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System during 2018 concerning deferred compensation for Maryland superintendents.
Benefits Services has no correspondence between PGCPS and the MSRPS regarding deferred compensation for Maryland superintendents.
2. All correspondence between PGCPS staff and PGCPS Board of Education Chair Segun Eubanks during 2018 concerning compensation for Maryland superintendents under Maryland State law.
The only correspondence concerning superintendent salary was between Board Counsel and Dr. Eubanks, which is attorney-client privileged and exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article section 4-301.
If you have further questions regarding this response, please contact this office. You are entitled to judicial review of information denied pursuant to General Provisions Article section 4-362 and administrative review pursuant to General Provisions Article section 4-1B-01 et seq.
Best regards,
John White
Public Information Officer
JLW/khr
cc: Monica Goldson, Ed.D.
Raven Hill
Demetria T. Tobias, Esquire
Shauna Garlington Battle, Esquire
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Date: Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 11:09 PM
Subject: RE: Public Information Act request
To: John White <john2.white@pgcps.org>
Cc: Demetria Tobias <demetria.tobias@pgcps.org>, Shauna Battle <shauna.battle@pgcps.org>, Raven Hill <raven.hill@pgcps.org>, Monica Goldson CEO <ceo@pgcps.org>, Karen Remington <karen.remington@pgcps.org>
Dear Mr. White:
Thank you for partially fulfilling my August 23, 2018 and August 28, 2018 Public Information Act requests to your office.
For the August 28, 2018 request: you did not provide Kevin Maxwell’s actual salary through September 26, 2018, the date you responded to this Public Information Act request, which is the actual date I requested. The last date he was CEO of PGCPS, according to his amended employment contract, was September 17, 2018.
Thank you for providing his budgeted base salary through the end of FY2019. However, I am interested in his total budgeted salary for FY2019, including payments for his various types of leave and other types of pay that would be used by the Maryland State Retirement Agency to calculate his final salary. Like the Retirement Agency, when the public thinks of salary, they think of total cash compensation, not a subset of it. Even if you cannot provide all the components of such a salary, you should be able to provide the aggregate amount, which is in your payroll database.
Please confirm your assertion that PGCPS did not contribute to Kevin Maxwell’s pension while he was CEO through September 17, 2018. Wouldn’t that violate the law? But perhaps I am missing something.
For the August 23, 2018 request: you did not provide a response to the requests for the following two sets of documents:
- All correspondence between PGCPS and the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System during 2018 concerning deferred compensation for Maryland superintendents.
- All correspondence between PGCPS staff and PGCPS Board of Education Chair Segun Eubanks during 2018 concerning compensation for Maryland superintendents under Maryland State law.
If you choose to reject part of a Public Information Act request, I believe the appropriate norm is to do so explicitly. Accordingly, thank you for explicitly rejecting my request for most of the components of Kevin Maxwell’s compensation package, including his severance pay. I ask that you now explicitly reject the other parts of my two Public Information Act requests that you did not fulfill.
I believe that tomorrow, September 27, 2018, marks the 30th day since my Public Information Act request.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: John White <john2.white@pgcps.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2018 5:46 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Cc: Demetria Tobias <demetria.tobias@pgcps.org>; Shauna Battle <shauna.battle@pgcps.org>; Raven Hill <raven.hill@pgcps.org>; Monica Goldson CEO <ceo@pgcps.org>; Karen Remington <karen.remington@pgcps.org>
Subject: Re: Public Information Act request
Hello Mr. Snider,
I am emailing the attached letter [copied below] and expense reimbursement data [copied below] in response to your request for public records made on August 28, 2018, under the Maryland Public Information Act.
Best regards,
John White
Public Information Officer
Prince George’s County Public Schools
Sasscer Administration Building
14201 School Lane
Upper Marlboro, MD 20772
Office: 301-780-6814
Mobile: 240-691-6744
Email: John2.White@pgcps.org
www.pgcps.org | www.facebook.com/pgcps | www.twitter.com/pgcps
Attached Letter
September 26, 2018
Re: Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) Request regarding Dr. Maxwell’s compensation. Our File No.: 17-99-0034
Dear Mr. Snider:
This letter is written in response to your email correspondence dated August 28, 2018, requesting the following information under the Maryland Public Information Act:
For FY2018, both budgeted and actual compensation related data for Kevin Maxwell.
For FY2019, the same data as specified in 1) above for FY2018, but with the actual compensation related data not including the entire fiscal year (as obviously, FY2019 is not yet over); that is, the actual compensation related
data limited to the period up until this Public Information Act request is fulfilled by your office.
- Salary, as specified in section 3-1.
- For FY2018, both budgeted and actual compensation related data for Kevin Maxwell, including:
- Salary in 2018 was $299,937. Salary, as of July 1, 2018, was 310,434.87.
- Performance bonus, as specified in section 3-4.
- Performance bonus for 2018 is $0.00 and in 2019 is $0.00
- PGCPS contribution to the appropriate Maryland State pension/retirement system, as specified in section 3-5.
- The Board of Education did not contribute to the pension system on behalf of Dr. Maxwell.
- All participants must contribute 7% of their bi-weekly salary.
- 457 Plan and 403(b) contributions, as specified in section 3-6.
- We are denying access to information relating to Dr. Maxwell’s retirement contributions as a retirement record under General Provisions Article 4-312, personal financial information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-336, and personnel record information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-311.
- Annual leave, including the destinations of the annual leave payouts, as specified in section 4-1.
- In 2018 and 2019, Dr. Maxwell was entitled to 36 days of annual leave each year under the contract. We are denying access to information regarding his annual leave payouts as personal financial information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-336, and personnel record information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-311.
- Sick leave at the end of the current fiscal year eligible to be applied to creditable service, as specified in section 4-2.
- We are denying access to information regarding Dr. Maxwell’s sick leave balances as personnel record information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-311.
- Medical, dental, vision, and prescription insurance, as specified in section 4-3.
- We are denying access to information regarding Dr. Maxwell’s medical, dental, vision, and prescription insurance as personal financial information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-336, and personnel record information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-311.
- Disability insurance, as specified in section 4-4.
- We are denying access to information regarding Dr. Maxwell’s disability insurance as personal financial information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-336, and personnel record information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-311.
- Life insurance, as specified in section 4-5.
- We are denying access to information regarding Dr. Maxwell’s life insurance as personal financial information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-336, and personnel record information exempt from disclosure under General Provisions Article 4-311.
- Leased vehicle, as specified in section 4-6.
- The 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe previous assigned to transport Dr. Kevin Maxwell as CEO is not a leased vehicle. The vehicle is publicly owned and registered to the Board of Education of Prince George’s County, MD. The referenced vehicle 4344 remains in the school system fleet and is assigned to transport Dr. Monica Goldson, Interim CEO.
- Computer/software, etc., as specified in section 4-7.
- Dr. Maxwell purchased his Dell XBS laptop, iPhone and the printer for $275, after the data was cleansed from the devices.
- Expense reimbursement, as specified in section 5-1.
- Attached
If you have further questions regarding this response, please contact this office. You are entitled to judicial review of information denied pursuant to General Provisions Article section 4-362 and administrative review
pursuant to General Provisions Article section 4-1B-01 et seq.
Best regards,
John White
Public Information Officer
JLW/khr
cc: Monica Goldson, Ed.D.
Raven Hill
Demetria T. Tobias, Esquire
Shauna Garlington Battle, Esquire
Attached Expense Reimbursement
| PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS | EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENTS | ||
| Name | Invoice Date | Invoice Amount | Description |
| Maxwell, Kevin M. | 10-Oct-17 | $180.23 | MARYLAND ASSOCIATION OF BOARDS OF EDUCATION CONFERENCE |
| Maxwell, Kevin M. | 13-Feb-18 | $50.00 | NON LOCAL TRAVEL PARKING REIMBURSEMENT |
| Maxwell, Kevin M. | 8-Mar-18 | $79.92 | HOME FAX CHARGES FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES |
| Maxwell, Kevin M. | 22-Mar-18 | $48.00 | BWI AIRPORT PARKING 3/22-25/18 (NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE |
| Maxwell, Kevin M. | 12-Mar-18 | $44.96 | HOME FAX CHARGES FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES |
| TOTAL | $222.88 | ||
From: John White <john2.white@pgcps.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2018 12:48 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Cc: Demetria Tobias <demetria.tobias@pgcps.org>; Shauna Battle <shauna.battle@pgcps.org>; Raven Hill <raven.hill@pgcps.org>; Wesley W. Watts <wesley.watts@pgcps.org>
Subject: Re: Public Information Act request
Hello Mr. Snider,
I am in receipt of your request for public records, made under the Maryland Public Information Act, and will respond in accordance with the law.
Best regards,
John White
Public Information Officer
Prince George’s County Public Schools
Sasscer Administration Building
14201 School Lane
Upper Marlboro, MD 20772
Office: 301-780-6814
Mobile: 240-691-6744
Email: John2.White@pgcps.org
www.pgcps.org | www.facebook.com/pgcps | www.twitter.com/pgcps
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2018 12:06 PM
To: ‘John White’ <john2.white@pgcps.org>
Subject: Public Information Act request
Dear Mr. White:
Thank you for providing me with Kevin Maxwell’s “severance contract,” including his Employment Contract and his Amendment to the Employment Contract, in response to my July 26, 2018 Public Information Act request. Unfortunately, neither document included the requested information necessary to determine Maxwell’s deferred compensation. Thus, I am requesting additional, specific documents to compensate for that gap. Please also note that, despite my written request, you did not provide me with a dated copy of the Amendment to the Employment Contract. The copy of the contract that I was provided was a blank, undated form.
Under the Maryland Public Information Act, State Government Article (SG) §§ 10-611, et seq., I request the following documents for FY2018 and FY2019, with the various payment categories as defined in the Employment Contract you provided me on August 24, 2018:
- For FY2018, both budgeted and actual compensation related data for Kevin Maxwell, including:
- Salary, as specified in section 3-1.
- Performance bonus, as specified in section 3-4.
- PGCPS contribution to the appropriate Maryland State pension/retirement system, as specified in section 3-5.
- 457 Plan and 403(b) contributions, as specified in section 3-6.
- Annual leave, including the destinations of the annual leave payouts, as specified in section 4-1.
- Sick leave at the end of the current fiscal year eligible to be applied to creditable service, as specified in section 4-2.
- Medical, dental, vision, and prescription insurance, as specified in section 4-3.
- Disability insurance, as specified in section 4-4.
- Life insurance, as specified in section 4-5.
- Leased vehicle, as specified in section 4-6.
- Computer/software, etc., as specified in section 4-7.
- Expense reimbursement, as specified in section 5-1.
- For FY2019, the same data as specified in 1) above for FY2018, but with the actual compensation related data not including the entire fiscal year (as obviously, FY2019 is not yet over); that is, the actual compensation related data limited to the period up until this Public Information Act request is fulfilled by your office. In contrast, the budgeted amount should include the full FY2019 budgeted amount. For example, if you claim to fulfill this Public Information request on September 26, 2018, the actual compensation related data should be current until that date. In the past, your office has waited until a day or two before the 30-day deadline before submitting responsive documents.
In my July 26, 2018 Public Information Act request, I assumed that the PGCPS Board of Education would have formally compiled the key data, including assumptions, necessary to estimate the impact of Maxwell’s cash severance package on his deferred compensation. When you provided no responsive documents to that part of my request, I had to assume that the Board of Education did not make any such formal estimates. Thus, I am now collecting some of the information necessary to make the relevant calculations myself.
If it would be more convenient for you to download from your payroll system and provide to me in Excel format Kevin Maxwell’s full employee record that covers the relevant payroll period (e.g., FY2018) instead of the small subset of data I have requested, that would also be satisfactory to me. His full record, for example, would include his name, the unit he works for, and the date he started working at PGCPS. Downloading the full record for each of the two periods I’ve requested should take only a few seconds for someone skilled in the use of your payroll database. Downloading the subset of that record that I’ve requested in 1) and 2) above may take a bit more time as each requested field must be checked off in the database (though even that filtering process should require no more than a few minutes). That’s why I am offering the option of just providing it all to me–for each period I’ve requested.
Please email me the requested documents as an email attachment.
If fulfilling this Public Information Act request is expected to take more than 2 hours, then please provide separate costs for document requests 1) and 2) above in your response to me. In addition, in the unlikely event that any information cannot be provided to me in an electronic format, please cost it out separately.
If you deny any part of this request, please cite each specific Public Information Act exemption that justifies your denial of the information. As you know, Maryland law specifies that compensation related to public employment is public information.
I look forward to your acknowledgement of this request within the ten calendar days required by the Public Information Act.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider