Paying for leaders

When local students spill into the hallways on the first day of classes next month, few will think about the amount of money their principal makes or whether their school has more administrators than the state requires.

Most won't have a single thought about the piles of paperwork on administrators' desks, the grants to be written or the difficult budget decisions that lie ahead.

While students may be oblivious, the importance of administrators and how much money they're worth have moved to the forefront of education issues as districts search for answers to millions of dollars in state funding cuts.

Administrative salaries in Cape Girardeau and Jackson schools are keeping pace with the rest of the United States, but the districts are employing more supervisors than required by the state in a time when unprecedented budget cuts have forced the elimination of many teaching positions.

A projected $1.4 million loss in state funding in Jackson and a $600,000 loss in Cape Girardeau have district patrons searching for answers and, in some cases, someone to blame.

"Whether it's right or wrong, I think there is a perception out there that administrators are paid too much," said Cape Girardeau parent Rhonda Young. "People always want to blame something, and the top is where they start because those are the people in charge."

For 2003-2004, Jackson will use 5.1 percent, or $1.3 million, of a $25 million budget to pay the district's 20 administrators. Cape Girardeau will spend 4.3 percent, or $1.4 million, of a $32 million budget to pay 23 administrators.

Cape Girardeau superintendent Mark Bowles admits that gives some district patrons pause.

"Any money going to administrators is begrudged. People see it as money that could be spent to provide direct instruction to students," he said.

Defining the job

While individual school districts vary in their definition, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education considers an administrator to be anyone in the following positions: Superintendent, assistant superintendent, administrative assistant, curriculum coordinator, instructional assistant, director of elementary or secondary education, Title I director, vocational or special education administrator, principal or assistant principal.

Administrators in both Cape Girardeau and Jackson school districts received a pay raise this year. In Cape Girardeau, they received a 4 percent increase across the board, ranging between $1,400 and $6,000 per individual. In Jackson, the increase was 0.8 percent, ranging between $561 and $1,200 per individual.

"Overall, there are less people at the top than at the bottom, and those at the bottom will always complain about what the top is making," said Judy Hoffman, who has three children in Jackson schools. "But I think to keep good people, you have to pay a good amount."

For the coming school year, the Cape Girardeau School District fulfilled a three-year promise to all employees that began in 2000 to add a total of $3,000 to the salary schedule, which amounts to a 4-percent raise this year for both teachers and administrators.

In total, Jackson will spend about $10,000 more in administrative salary money this year over last year. Cape Girardeau has budgeted around $80,000 more.

The additional amount of money Cape Girardeau will spend on administrators for the coming year represents more than a third of the amount of money the district would receive by raising local property taxes in August.

In light of the state funding loss, the school board is currently considering decreasing the district's voluntary tax reduction, which would raise taxes 7 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

Bowles said not fulfilling the promise to raise salaries was not something the district felt would benefit students.

"We need the best leaders we can get, and it's not fair to break a promise to a segment of the staff," Bowles said.

Some states, like Illinois, have limited the amount of money a district can spend on administrative salaries. Missouri does not have such a law, but the state's school accreditation system -- the Missouri School Improvement Program -- does have standards for the number of administrators a district should employ based on student enrollment.

The standards are divided into two categories: minimum and desirable. Ideally, schools would strive to meet the desirable standards, but can maintain accreditation by meeting the minimum standards.

Because of the impending state budget cuts, districts across the state have been forced to drop to minimum standards in various accreditation areas.

Seventeen vacated teaching slots in Jackson and 11 in Cape Girardeau were not filled this year. No administrative positions were eliminated, although both districts have more administrators than required by the state's accreditation standards.

With 3,986 students in the fall of2002, Cape Girardeau was required by the state's minimum standardto have 10.75 full-time or part-time principals and assistant principals to maintain accreditation standards, but actually employed 14.

The amount of money spent on the additional 3.25 administrators is equivalent to the average salary of six teachers, and some parents feel it's more important to keep teachers rather than administrators.

"Are we serving students, or are we serving administrators here?" said Young, whose son is a student at Central High School. "Mr. Administrator can go to another school district and it's not going to make too much difference for him because there's so much mobility in those positions. But it might make a world of difference to that student who can't have a certain class because there's no teacher to teach it."

Making decisions

Bowles said the opening of the position of athletic director at Central High School was the only administrative job the district might have considered eliminating by attrition -- the same standard used to eliminate teaching positions.

"Could we have taken that position and spread the workload amongst the remaining four administrators? We felt it was not advisable to shift those responsibilities around," Bowles said. "If we'd done that, we would have had parents outraged that we didn't have a full-time athletic director."

The district hired a business manager, director of curriculum and director of special education to replace an assistant superintendent who retired and special education coordinator who resigned.These moves allowed the district to restructure some administrative responsibilities.

District officials say those positions, combined with Bowles' former position as assistant superintendent, which was not replaced when he was named superintendent in 2002-2003, add up to $40,000 in administrative salary savings over the past two years.

"We're definitely not padding the administrative workload with unnecessary positions. Our administrators are just as busy and hard-working as our teachers," Bowles said.

With the 4,657 students enrolled in Jackson inthe fall of 2002, the district employed 12 full-time and part-time principals or assistant principals instead of the required minimum state standard of 10.75.

Superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said that eliminating one full-time position and a part-time position, which are spread out over the high school, junior high, middle school and North Elementary, isn't an option for him.

"I wouldn't give it a thought," Anderson said. "The leadership, instructional requirement, discipline and management is too much. It's not realistic."

Jim Morris, director of public information with DESE, said many districts in Missouri are not filling administrative positions for the coming year because of the budget cuts.

"It comes down to a judgment call by the local board of education as to what is appropriate for the district and where they can absorb a reduction best," Morris said.

Superintendents' salaries

In Missouri, the average superintendent salary in 2002 was $81,364 -- $40,211 less than the $121,809 Anderson will make next year, and $22,636 less than the $110,000 Bowles will make.

However, Morris said there is a vast difference in size in Missouri's 524 school districts, which can impact statewide averages. Also, the state's average superintendent salary does not reflect travel expenses, but the local salaries do.

According to the Educational Research Service, a nonprofit research organization based in Arlington, Va., the average superintendent salary, not including a travel stipend, in 2002-2003 for a school district with between 2,500 and 9,999 students was $121,853.

Officials in both Cape Girardeau and Jackson say a shortage of people willing to take on administrative responsibilities over the past decade has led to a competitive market. As a result, salaries have gone up.

New legislation has raised accountability for school districts and also created a huge amount of paperwork, which in turn generates more administrative work,

"People always think administrators are paid too much, especially when money is tight," Anderson said. "They remember that there weren't that many administrators when they were in school, but they don't consider that they didn't have a red-tape bureaucracy either."

Personnel directors in both districts have noticed a significant decrease in the number of job applicants for administrative openings in the past five years.

The changing role of administrators goes further than taller stacks of paperwork. People in supervisory positions say they spend less time in offices these days and more in the classroom, interacting with teachers and in the community.

Dr. Rita Fisher, an assistant superintendent at Jackson, says she has seen a definite change in administrative duties in her 22 years as an educator, .

"Sitting behind desks isn't what we're about anymore," Fisher said. "We're in schools more, and we're seen more by the community."

As superintendent of personnel and instruction, Fisher divides much of her time between searching for the best job applicants and organizing and attending professional development workshops for teachers.

Even though it's July, she gathered 36 district teachers together for a three-day curriculum workshop at a local elementary school.

Teachers took advantage of the one-on-one time, asking Fisher for her advice on establishing next year's curriculum and preparing for annual state assessments.

"This is the part of my job I love best," Fisher said. "My favorite thing is working with teachers and trying to make their jobs better."

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, ext. 128