The hype is already beginning in school districts across the state about how students did so much better this year on the state's testing program.

The improved performance shouldn't be much of a surprise considering how for the first time elementary and middle schools were allowed to count passing scores on retests. That fact got only a brief mention in some school district press releases.

(To be fair, you could get the info from Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools if you dug past the press release to click on the attachments.)

The school board accepted Supt. Del Burns' request today to not accept an automatic three-percent raise.

Under Burns' contract, he's guranteed a raise of three percent each year. His request means that he won't get an $8,190 raise on his $273,000 base salary for the coming fiscal year.

The board can still choose to give Burns a raise later this year when it reviews his performance. Last year, the board gave him a 1-percent raise on top of his automatic one.

Some other superintendents, such as Paul Gorman in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Maurice Green in Guilford County, have also asked their boards to not give them automatic raises this year because of the economic conditions.

Del Burns is no longer the highest-paid superintendent in the state.

The Charlotte Observer is reporting today that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Superintendent Peter Gorman got a $18,200 bonus and $7,150 raise on Tuesday. That lifts Gorman's total package to $320,350, above the $312,790 that Burns got earlier this month.

Gorman also got a perk that Burns doesn't have. At Gorman's request, he got a new clause in his contract promising to provide “reasonable security measures” to him and his family in case of “public controversy” or any other reason.