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The new salaries range from $140,000-$213,000 for a board executive; $243,000-$255,000 for associate directors; and $255,000-$316,000 for education director John Malloy.

Malloy earned $270,958 in 2016.

Board chairman Robin Pilkey says several of their senior executives are not on the pay grids established by the plan — meaning some will get more than 5% to catch up.

Only the board will decide what Malloy gets, she said.

According to the TDSB document, the plan — put together in consultation with Mercer (Canada) Ltd. — attempts to undo the narrowing of the salary gap between principals and the bigwigs (my words) over the past five years, when teachers and principals still got wage hikes.

“In some cases the principals have surpassed the bigwigs,” Pilkey said.

The pay hike proposal comes out of Ontario’s Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act (passed in 2015) which ordered all public sector employers to come up with a compensation plan for employees making more than $100,000 per year.

This followed a pay freeze put in place by the Ontario government in 2012. An audit of the TDSB in 2013 found that despite the guidelines, executive team salaries had jumped by 3% between 2010 and 2013.

With an election looming, there’s no doubt in my mind that Premier Kathleen Wynne wants to ensure she giveth back what was taken away. No need to upset the school board bigwigs. Such a magnanimous soul!

The document contends that it has been “difficult to attract individuals to take on executive level accountabilities,” because some principals are making as much, or more.