NYs top schools chief defends hush-hush $155K raise while not mentioning nearly $120K pension

The state’s top education honcho Betty Rosa on Wednesday defended scoring a hush-hush $155,000 raise — conveniently leaving out that she’s also double-dipping a plum pension, The Post has learned.Rosa argued the quiet raise — a bombshell first reported by the Albany Times Union — puts her now-$489,000 annual salary as State Education Department commissioner and chair of Board of Regents more in line with a few lavishly compensated local superintendents.She went on about her need to make more money to pay for her two residences, an Albany apartment and house in Rockland County.“I hold two titles, 2.7 million kids, and I’m going to make less than when somebody who has 3,600 kids?” she whined.But Rosa didn’t mention that she is also collecting a nearly $120,000 pension from her time as a Bronx principal and superintendent — a fact discovered by The Post in state records.Property records also indicate Rosa has a third home in Texas.An Education Department spokesperson defended Rosa’s pension.“After a successful career in New York City schools, Commissioner Rosa earned a pension, just as she received a legitimate pay increase when appointed (University of the State of New York) President, both of which are entirely above board and legally authorized,” spokesperson JP O’Hare told The Post.When asked by The Post how New York kids are better served by the raise, Rosa instead complained about the other superintendents who made more.“This isn’t about being served, this is about… this is the salary,” she said.“I can turn around and say why your kids being better served in District X when the board negotiated – that is their answer to who they want as the superintendent.”Rosa, who is now one of New York’s highest-paid public employees, spent much of Wednesday complaining up and down in front of state lawmakers about what she considered a lack of funding from Albany.

Indeed, the hearing over Gov.Kathy Hochul’s budget plan largely t...