DeForest administrators' cries for salary equity are weak at best. Does a doctor at John Hopkins earn the same as a doctor in some podunk community hospital? We don't think so. Does a police officer in a small midwestern village earn as much as a New York City cop? We don't think so! It doesn't make sense!
Equity has to be based on comparing apples to apples, not apples to pineapples! You can't compare DeForest school employee salaries to the 16 Dane Co. school districts because they are so variable. DeForest has an enrollment of 3249, while Dane Co. districts range from 800 kids to 24,800 kids.
Even the average enrollment of all Dane Co. districts is 34% higher than DeForest's enrollment.
 |
| Looking at enrollments, DeForest administrators do not warrant pay at the same level as those in much larger districts |
Self-Perpetuating Opulence
These are tight times, people. How can anyone --yes, including Exxon executives--consider themselves worthy of obscenely grandiose raises? All around, people are having their incomes REDUCED! Those relying on Social Security haven't seen an increase in 2 years, and may see a very slight increase in January 2012. State, county, and municipal workers are seeing their take-home pay REDUCED by 8-10% as soon as Gov. Walkers gets his plan approved. How can any individual take this without getting up and speaking their piece?
The "new" money that will be paid to DeForest administrators amounts to over $300,000 in cost. For a district with a tax levy of about $21M, that means that these new raises will add at least a 1.4% increase to the tax levy. And like some STDs, this is the gift that keeps on giving. Salaries will only INCREASE!
What makes matters worse is that districts feed off of themselves. If DeForest is allowed to award these excessive raises, then other school districts will just want more, which will result in DeForest administrators wanting even more! It's one giant game of leapfrog. At what point do we stop the madness? Look...we get it. These people manage our schools that teach our children. It's an important job. It deserves to be amply compensated. But "amply" does not equate to "obscenely".
Here's a question: just exactly how much time is being spent figuring out what the other guy is earning--and how to spin that into justification for raises-- instead of focusing on the educational outcomes of our kids?
Just as we need to raise the floor and lower the ceiling for teachers, we need to establish a cap for administrators as well. You don't like ceilings for teacher pay? Look...there can't be a one of you out there that can rationalize a kindergarten teacher or elementary school "Library Media Specialist" earning over $90,000 per year for 9 months work. That's just plain insanity. In fact...we offer this challenge....if you really think you can rationalize the merit of such a salary, then e-mail us at sp.eye1@gmail.com and we'll publish your argument...anonymously if you wish.
State leaders are so quick to put caps on spending. You know what happens? These people pay themselves first and take the cuts in supplies and services that directly affect our kids. Hello! McFly! Salaries and fringes account for as much as 80-85% of a school district's budget! When is one of our well-compensated legislators going to push a bill that will places the caps on PAY, not supplies and critical services? But we digress.
Let's look at how DeForest's "Dane Co. Market Salary Adjustment" has yielded:
District Administrator
DeForest's District Administrator, Jon Bales, is currently the 6th highest paid District Administrator in Dane County. While Bales did not receive anything as part of the "market adjustment" increase, he already received a 5% increased (reported to be a 2% increase) for 2010-11. He now earns $146,243, which is $4,000 per year more than the WELL-compensated Dr. Culver in Sun Prairie! Dr. Culver runs a district with TWICE the number of students as DeForest, and has 2 more years experience than Dr. Bales. Think Culver will be wanting more now?
Business Manager
The average salary of the 13 Dane Co. Administrators titled, "Business Manager" is $106,700. DeForest' Business Manager, Diane Pertzborn was earning $111,855 following a 5% increase for 2010-11. With this "Dane Co. Market Adjustment", she will earn (effective Jan.1, 2011) $118,580. Her salary previously ranked 8 of 13 and now will rank 6 of 13, just behind Sun Prairie's Phil Frei ($123,345). Pertzborn's salary previously was 4.8% above the Dane Co. average ($106,700) for Business Managers, and now will be 6.3% above average. Is that equity?Human Resources (HR) Director
The average salary of the 7 Dane Co. Administrators titled, "Central Office Administrator, subtitle Human Resources" is $112,768. DeForest's HR Director, Vickie Adkins was earning $93,500 following a 5% increase for 2010-11. With this "Dane Co. Market Adjustment", she will earn (effective Jan.1, 2011) $115,000. Her salary previously ranked 7th out of 7 and now will rank 3rd of 7, just above Sun Prairie's Annette Mikula ($114,000). Adkins' salary previously was 15% below the Dane Co. average for HR Managers, and now will be 1.4% above average. Keep in mind that only 7 school districts (Madison, Verona, Sun Prairie , Waunakee , Middleton-Cross Plains, Stoughton, De Forest) are large enough to even have a dedicated HR Manager
The average salary of the 25 Dane Co. Administrators titled, "Director of Instruction Manager" is $103,600. DeForest' Director of Instruction, Sue Wilson was earning $94,554 following a 5% increase for 2010-11. With this "Dane Co. Market Adjustment", she will earn (effective Jan.1, 2011) $112,181. Her salary previously ranked 16 of 25 and now will rank 10 of 25, just behind Sun Prairie's Alice Murphy ($113,200). Wilson's salary previously was 8% below the Dane Co. average ($103,600) for Directors of Instruction, and now will be 9% above average.Director of Special Education
The average salary of the 13 Dane Co. Administrators titled, "Director of Special Education" is $107,900. DeForest's Director of Special Ed., David Perrodin was earning $96,700 following a 5% increase for 2010-11. With this "Dane Co. Market Adjustment", he will earn (effective Jan.1, 2011) $112,181. His salary previously ranked 11 of 13 and now will rank 4 of 13, about 3.5% less than Sun Prairie's Lisa Dawes ($116,200). Perrodin's salary previously was 9.5% below the Dane Co. average for Directors of Special Education, and now will be 4% above average.
High School Principal
The average salary of the 20 Dane Co. Administrators titled, "High School Principal" is $107,500. DeForest's HS Principal, Machell Schwarz was earning $98,145 following a 5% increase for 2010-11. With this "Dane Co. Market Adjustment", she will earn (effective Jan.1, 2011) $113,000. Her salary previously ranked 13 of 20 and now will rank 7 of 20, about $2,000 more than Sun Prairie's Lisa Heipp ($111,044). Schwarz' salary previously was 5.6% below the Dane Co. average for High School Principals, and now will be 7% above average.
Middle School Principal
The average salary of the 16 Dane Co. Administrators titled, "Middle School Principal" is $97,500. DeForest's MS Principal, Paul Herrick was earning $91,400 following a 5% increase for 2010-11. With this "Dane Co. Market Adjustment", he will earn (effective Jan.1, 2011) $103,371. His salary previously ranked 11 of 16 and now will rank 5 of 16. This is still about $10,000 below the average for Sun Prairie's two middle school principals, Clark Luessman and Nancy Hery, but Sun Prairie is at the head of all Dane County Middle School Principal salaries! Herrick's salary previously was 5.6% below the Dane Co. average for Middle School Principals, and now will be 6% above average.Elementary School Principal
The average salary for Dane Co. Administrators titled, "Elementary School Principal" is $90,950. The average pay of DeForest's elementary principals, Michael Finke, Ann Schoenberger, and Michael Weisensel was $90,000 following a 5% increase for 2010-11. With this "Dane Co. Market Adjustment", the average (effective Jan.1, 2011) will now be $94,300. DeForest previously ranked 9 of 16 for elementary principal pay and now will rank 6 of 16. This average is $700 more than the average salary of Sun Prairie's seven elementary school principals. DeForest elementary school principal pay previously was 1% below the Dane Co. average for Elementary School Principals, and now will be 4% above average.
Posts
