Armenta's "everyone else is doing it" logic specious

In the Journal this morning, they and APS' Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta built their defense for APS' PR effort and Armenta's salary, link. They wrote;

"... a survey done in 2006 by the Council of the Great City Schools, which represents large urban school districts nationwide, showing that the size of APS's staff is not out of line with those of other districts.
According to that survey, 66 percent of districts had communications staffs of between five and 20 people, and 69 percent had communications budgets of more than $750,000.

The argument, if you are spending the same as "everybody else" you are spending an appropriate amount of money is specious; it sounds good but doesn't stand to reason.

School districts determine salaries by looking at other districts and then raising the ante to encourage interest. In meantime the other district is looking at the average, and upping the ante. You end up trapped in an upward spiral no longer based on market values.

The only way to determine for certain, whether APS' PR effort is necessary, efficient and effective, is to have independent experts conduct an impartial review and then report their results to the public record.

There is a reason the leadership of the APS is fighting an independent audit, and it isn't because the auditors will find efficiency and effectiveness.