2012-13 Administrator Increases and Pay

It seems only fair that if the teacher salaries were published, then we also publish the salaries for administrators.

We've got 10 members of the $100K club plus one that's right on the edge.

The question in our minds right now is that a 2% pool was set aside for administrators, admin support, and Local 60.  The average increases was 2% for these groups.

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For the teachers (Professional Educators), however, the board proposed using a significant portion of the 2% pool to raise the base wage paid to teachers.

We fully support any move by the school board to raise the floor and create a reasonable ceiling on teacher wages.   We're just a little concerned how that comes off in the waking of approving a flat 2% for other groups.  We realize that administrator increases are doled out by Dr. Culver based on his performance evaluations, so it's not quite the same.  We remain concerned, however, that board members could cave in on their position with the teachers and lose the ground they could--and should--gain.   Perhaps its unfounded concern, but we're keepin' it real.

On Tap for Monday: Administrator "Raise Pool"

On Monday, November 26, 2012 (6:30 PM, Municipal Bldg) the Sun Prairie School Board is poised to take action to approve a 2% across the board raise for administrators.

FINANCIAL/BUDGET/OTHER RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS:

The 2012-2013 budget adopted by the School Board includes $51,157 designated for administrative salary increases.   This amount is equivalent to the 2% salary pool necessary to fund the motion of the committee.

RECOMMENDATION:

“To increase administration salary pool by 2 percent to be distributed by the District Administrator according to the performance evaluation system.”

On the School Board side of negotiations:

School Board’s Administrative Compensation and Benefits Committee, Caren Diedrich, Tom Weber, and John Whalen

On the Administrator side:  Craig Coulthart, Nancy Hery, Liz Merrick and Wendi Tavs.

We have two comments based on the information provided:

(1) The recommendation indicates that the "administration salary pool" is to be "increased by 2%".  How much was in there already?  Is there MORE than the $51,157?

(2) Bear in mind that 2/3 of the school board side of negotiations were noted Tim Culver lap dogs John Whalen and Caren Diedrich.  Look...we get it...When in the (*heartburn moment*) Board Treasurer, and Diedrich is the Chair of the former Human Resources Committee.  

The 4% vs. the 96%

OK...we lied...we have one more comment to make.

The total dollar increase for [the Local 60] settlement (11-12-12) was $176,744.00 

shared by 333.64 employees

or $529.74 each

vs. the administrator team, which would get $51,157

shared by 28.5 FTE

or $1,794.98 each

Really?  Did we not hear over the last 4 months about the wealthy getting wealthier at the expense of the middle and lower classes?

The Local 60 group includes 11.7 times the number of employees as the administrators' group...

yet they will collectively receive only 3.45 times as much salary dollars.

Super-Size Admin Salaries; Just Plain Super-Size the Rest of The Work Force

That's about $10 more each week (pre-tax) that Local 60 workers will get.  Maybe enough to splurge for a family night out at McDonald's ...if one sticks to the Dollar Menu.  Meanwhile, each Administrator ,on average-pretax, would see an increase of about $35.00...enough for a decent sit down dinner somewhere.  

Why does it have to be about food?  Hey...we didn't start the "translating tax levy increase to pizzas" .  We like to assess blame for poor food choices and the obesity epidemic.  And some rightly so.  But you know what?  We are helping to create this situation...and we need to own that.  The folks earning $90,000 per year (and that's just ONE bread-earner's income) have no trouble making their rent/mortgage payments and they can afford to make good food choices.  They can also afford a membership to the local athletic club and even a personal trainer.

Meanwhile, those folks that earn only $12 or $13/hour have seriously difficult choices to make: pay the rent to keep a home, or eat well.  But nobody wants to talk about that.  Many of those folks eat poorly because it beats not eating.  An athletic club membership?  Personal trainer.  Please!!!!  Not even on the radar screen for most.  But nobody wants to talk about that either.

What we fail to consider, in our haste to keep our administrator and teacher salaries on par with the Jones', is that we have 333 Local 60 employees and we rarely hear any talk of a need to "be competitive" for those jobs.  In fact, it may be that the best selling point for a Local 60 opening is, "Hey...it beats the pay you'd earn at McDonald's".

At some point we have to look at this equation...and that's not limited to Sun Prairie.  That extends to the entire state and the nation.  Do the administrators do a good job?  Sure...some of them are absolutely awesome (and most know who those are).  Others.....meh....not so much.

At what point do we say....hey....on average, each administrator earns $89,750 (do the math....if 2% of the total administrator salary is $51,157 and there are 28.5 FTE).  Is that a good wage?  Sure...the cost of living increases each year....but aren't these people well ahead of the curve to begin with?  But these are the people that earn enough to have, in addition to a fine primary home, a nice cabin up north and a boat and other luxuries, while many in Local 60 have trouble making ends meet.

We've finally been hit on the head with enough coconuts to understand that many teachers "off the salary grid" are earning a pretty damn spanky living, while those fresh out of school are underpaid.  The proposal made to the teachers raises the floor and earmarks the majority of the "2% allocation" to those teachers with less than 6 years experience.  The contract proposal offers a small stipend --non-base building) for those teachers in the middle and upper end.  If we're starting to move towards creating some sort of ceiling for teachers, at what point do we do the same for administrators?

And how do we really tie raises to performance?  The administrative pool is dished out as Tim Culver sees fit, based on his "evaluations" of the administrators.  Look at the past data.  It's clear there are favorites and its clear that some are in the doghouse (sometimes rightfully so).

Aaaaaahhhhhhh...we could go on and on...but you either get it...or you don't.  This country DOES need a fiscal wake up....just not the menu being offered by the Mitten Man.   So go on and award 2% raises to people that do not need it...and to some who do not deserve it.   And while we're at it, let's be sure to make those raises "base-building" so that they can in turn be raised by future increases.  

You're Not Gonna Believe This!

Are you sitting down?
Calm? Cool? Collected?
OK...then we can tell you...
Our administrators are underpaid.

That's right.  You heard it here, on SP-EYE. Unlike the district, that spins things only one way and shares only the information that makes them look good, we offer you the facts.  Sometimes the facts support our contentions...and sometimes they don't.

We looked at DPI Administrative Salary data for 2010-11.  We focused on the 20 school districts closest in size to Sun Prairie.  And we found that if you gasp for breath every time you read about administrator pay in Sun Prairie, you should be thankful we're not like other districts our size.

Of course, there are at least a few bleeding heart school board members that will leap upon this opportunity to pay our administrators more.  In fact, the board is in negotiations now to give administrators as much as a 2% increase in salary.

Do we need to follow a new leader?

Pause, Take  a Deep Breath...and Stop the Insanity!
What are we?  Lemmings?  Just because Acme School district wants to pay its administrators ridiculous wages, do we need to follow suit?  Who REALLY makes $100K plus in this society?  The average US physician earns about $140K.  The average dentist earns $102K.  The average engineer earns about $75K. (Source: http://www.worldsalaries.org/usa.shtml).  Sure, school district administrators have some responsibility.  But more than an engineer? dentist? doctor?  After all....these folks aren't TEACHING our kids.  So let's not use that rationale.

A review of the 2010 Census shows that only 8% of US households earn more than $125,000.  8%!  Do school administrators REALLY belong in the top 8% of all wage earners?  There's something wrong with this picture!  Hopefully our school board will give some consideration to this before casting their votes when the Administrator contracts come up in the very near future. New data shows that the median household income in 2009 was $50,221 which is down from $52,029 in 2008.  This drop of 3.6 percent comes at a time when many U.S. households are struggling to make payments on mortgages.   Really? The median household income is $50,000 and we pay school administrators DOUBLE or TRIPLE that?
 

Download a file of WI school 
district administrator compensation

Is Common Sense Really Dead?
The tide may finally be turning.  In these tight times, people are starting to wake up and pay attention.  The governor of New York is currently proposing legislation which would establish a tier system )based on enrollment) under which school district administrator (superintendent) salaries would be capped.  Currently, one-third of district administrators in New York earn over $175,000.  The 6th (top) tier, under which Sun Prairie would fall, would limit compensation to $175,000.  And that's New York, people!  As in the New York whose cost of living far exceeds ours.  Interestingly enough, the district administrator from New Berlin, WI is currently in negotiations to be district administrator in New York.  He was compensated over $200K last year.  How will this affect him? Read the article below.

District's pick for superintendent has sixth-highest education salary in Wisconsin

Is our Administration over-staffed?
Nobody wants to discuss the 800 lb gorilla in the room, but eventually those discussions must occur before the gorilla overtakes us.  Two aspects of administrative costs stuck out like a sore thumb when we looked at the 20 similar-sized districts.

First, Sun Prairie happens to have the most amount of administrators dedicated to Special Education. Kids with special need are an important part of our district, but let's face the facts, these administrators aren't typically working one-on-one with these kids.  That responsibility falls on Local 60 staffers largely earning less than $15/hour.   But lets toss in another fact that may make you pause to think.  We also looked at the DPI data for the numbers and percentage of enrollment comprised by special needs kids.  While Sun Prairie may have the highest number of Special Ed. administrators, we have the second LOWEST percentage of special need s kids in districts our size.   We'll take "Things That Make You Go, 'Hmmmm' for $500, Alex".

Top Heavy? (and not in a good way)
Second.  If we look at the ratio of principals to assistant principals in the district, we also stick out like a sore thumb in comparison to similar-sized districts.  Remember when the board voted on a heated split-vote to spend the money to hire an additional assistant principal at the high school?  Maybe if the board had looked at these hard facts, they would have given more though to that move.  After all, aren't we supposed to be a district that bases its decisions on data?   Are we looking at the wrong (or censored) data?  Or just not looking at the data at all?

Wrapping it All Up
So...are our administrators under paid?  Or is it better a question of : are our administrators simply not as excessively paid as other in similar sized school districts?  As we have to tighten our budgetary belts, it is this where we need to focus our attention...not on the teachers in the classrooms.