Stipend boosts school official’s pay

Rosalind Rossi of the Chicago Sun-Times, with assistance from Art Golub and Dave McKinney, used Illinois state records to find that “the highest-paid public school employee in the state last year was the No. 2 person — the man in charge of finance — at a one-school district in north suburban Lincolnshire.” James Hintz took home more than $300,000 in part because of an arrangement that paid him a six-figure “stipend” for health insurance that could be used for anything. The stipend also helps to boost Hintz’s pension, which is based on his compensation during his final years of employment.