In trying to share the pain of an ever-tightening budget, the three highest paid employees in the North Kitsap School District are voluntarily taking a 2 percent pay cut. District Superintendent Rick Jones and assistant superintendents Chris Willits and Shawn Woodward will each take a 2 percent pay cut next year. (See their current pay chart on page 3.)

This, they say, is their way of sharing the pain with other district employees. But we’d offer that it’s a paltry gesture, at best, and we’d certainly hope this isn’t the gateway to cutting salaries across the board in a “we did our part, now you do yours.” For other employees, like a teacher making the base $34,000 salary, a 2 percent reduction in pay could take food off the table or cause a missed mortgage payment. And the employee furloughs they’re thinking about? Same thing.

Something also worth noting is that district officials, Jones in particular, still have ample travel budgets for professional development conferences, all footed on the school district’s dime.

Not every teacher in the district gets to leave the classroom, board a plane, stay in a hotel, attend a conference and bill the district.

What’s fair is fair, and for the three highest paid officials to take a 2 percent pay cut while mulling district-wide furloughs isn’t even close.