As we noted, California’s government monopoly K-12 education system pays big bucks to local bosses, heaping on huge raises and boosting benefits without any connection to performance or student achievement. For local bureaucrats, as Diana Lambert explains in the Sacramento Bee, even serious misconduct can pay off big-time.

As the reporter notes, “El Dorado County schools chief Jeremy Meyers received a $125,000 buyout package this month for resigning after being arrested twice on suspicion of drunken driving.” This package equals his salary through June 2016 plus a lump sum to cover his benefits during that time. The El Dorado County Office of Education did not volunteer this information, forcing Lambert to dig it up through a Public Records Act request.

On June 9 police arrested Meyers for driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.15, about twice the legal limit. Someone, perhaps a student, could easily have been injured or killed, but the education superintendent did not learn his lesson. On the afternoon of November 5, Lambert writes, Meyers “crashed his truck into a utility box.” His blood alcohol level at the time was 0.19, more than twice the legal limit. These cases resulted in misdemeanor charges but not the felony that would have been necessary for the board to remove Meyers.

Now the board is rewarding the two-time loser with a gold-plated package including medical benefits. After all, one wouldn’t want a serial drunk driving arrestee to go without medical coverage. And think of how the $125,000 will trickle down into jobs for lawyers and local liquor stores. Everybody benefits from the deal, and of course it’s all for the children.