Paul Vallas, Gov. Pat Quinn’s running mate, plans to keep working as the school superintendent in Bridgeport, Conn., until March 1 — 17 days before the primary election. A career bureaucrat, Vallas is currently paid $4,500 a week by Bridgeport taxpayers.
If the Bridgeport school board had fired Vallas before Dec. 31, the board would have owed him a lump sum of $234,000 — equivalent to one year of his salary — plus one year of health insurance for him and his family, according to his contract.
Instead, Vallas will collect about $72,000 from the school system if he remains on the job until March 1 — 16 weeks after he decided to run for lieutenant governor of Illinois.
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