It seems counterintuitive that in an effort to save money the state is spending money.

But that is the case in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's overhaul of management of Connecticut's system of higher education, a plan to centralize office staff of the former Department of Higher Education under a new Board of Regents for Higher Education.

The idea is to accrue savings by streamlining staff at a single central office that will manage the Connecticut State University system, the community colleges and Charter Oak State College. With the start of the new year, the boards for the 12 community colleges, four state universities and Charter Oak will cease to exist, replaced by the regents. The plan promises to save $4.3 million by eliminating 24 of the 200 positions in the soon-to-be-scrapped scattered central offices.

It's a good plan that this newspaper supports. But we feel the need to express concern about the early going in the reorganization. The regents have already hired an interim president, Robert Kennedy, who is expected to be named the permanent president in January and be paid an annual salary of $340,000. That seems excessive. And now, several other new, six-figure positions are being created within the Board of Regents, according to The Hartford Courant.

Steven Weinberger, a former colleague of new Board of Regents President Kennedy at the University of Maine, has been tapped as the new head of human resources, and will be paid a $175,000 salary. The regents are also advertising for a new chief financial officer, a position that is expected to fetch something in the vicinity of the human resources' officer's salary.

On top of that, Michael P. Meotti, the former commissioner of education, is still employed at his old salary of $182,126, even though his position was eliminated. Mr. Meotti's new title is executive vice president of the new Board of Regents.

It doesn't look good, all those high salaries when savings were promised, but Mr. Meotti said the efficiencies will be realized once all the pieces are put in place.

"When we get to the end of the finish line, we will clearly see a smaller, leaner systems office than what was in existence in the past," he said.

We are giving Mr. Meotti the benefit of the doubt. Yet so far it appears highly paid bureaucrats are replacing clerical staff. The reorganization was touted as a way to funnel more dollars into classrooms rather than overhead. It has a long way to go to meet that goal.

There has been a lot of talk about streamlining government and this is one place Connecticut can do it. We're counting on the regents to get it right.