Spokane7
65°
September 19, 2010 in City
Administrators out of school budget woes’ reach
Many at top get raises while other salaries stay frozen
While private-sector and state workers have taken hits during the economic downturn, many public school administrators have seen their pay remain steady or increase.
Spokane Public Schools officials – from principals to top administrators – received pay increases of 3 percent or more this summer. The superintendent’s total compensation was the exception, rising less than 2 percent. In the Mead and Central Valley districts, certain administrators received annual step increases, but nothing more.
For all three districts, the pay boosts ranged from $3,000 to about $7,000 a year. Meanwhile, median income in Spokane County dropped in 2009 for the first time in five years, by more than $3,000 – from $45,551 to $42,195 – according to the Washington Office of Financial Management.
While the state pays an average of $59,929 toward administrative salaries, the rest comes from local levy dollars. In the Spokane-area districts, at least 107 administrators make more than $100,000 annually. The average salary for Washington administrators is $106,547.
“I know our members are disappointed in the 3 percent raise,” said Jenni Rose, president of the Spokane Education Association teachers union. “We have some union members who are below poverty level, yet our administrators who are making over $100,000 are getting raises. I am not happy. The people that are working in the trenches and with the kids every day should be getting the raises. They are doing what I consider the hard work.”
Washington teachers receive a 3 percent pay increase in each of the first 16 years they are employed. But in the past three years, those pay bumps have been countered with pricier health care premiums and three fewer paid days. For teachers with more than 16 years, that has meant a pay cut in each of the past three years.
“Overall, school districts need to prioritize in their school budgets, and that should be what happens in the classroom, not what happens in the central office,” said Rich Wood, spokesman for the Washington Education Association. “We’re 45th in the nation in terms of per-pupil spending. We have fewer teachers and support staff, and our class size is larger than most states’.”
For teachers, counselors and librarians who haven’t had step increases, base salaries have been frozen for two years, he added.
The pay increase for Spokane Public Schools administrators stemmed from a bargaining agreement with the district’s principals union in which an additional reward for years of service was negotiated, district officials said. The principals union negotiates every three years.
Contract language also dictates that principal salaries need to be in a midrange of comparable districts in the state.
Because of a district philosophy that supervisors should be paid more than those they oversee, the pay bumps rippled up from principals to the district’s top leadership.
“Every organization has an annual budget to manage,” said Staci Vesneske, assistant superintendent. “When you are able to provide a balanced budget that also preserves step increases and which pays people fairly for their responsibilities and accountability, you’re going to do that. In years where it’s not possible to balance the budget and preserve step increases, then you won’t.”
Rose, the union president, said, “Our members would die for a 2 or 2.5 percent raise. But we were told in bargaining that there was no money” for pay increases other than what the state mandates.
In the Central Valley School District, six administrators received pay increases due to years of service. In the Mead School District, eight administrator salaries rose for the same reason. There were no across-the-board raises. The superintendents in those districts saw no salary changes. In Spokane Public Schools, 104 administrators, including principals, received pay increases.
Although Superintendent Nancy Stowell’s base salary did not go up, her contract was restructured to reflect total compensation, including retirement and other incentives, resulting in a 1.8 percent increase, to $222,576.48 annually, officials said.
Members of no other school district union received overall pay increases. But, Vesneske wrote in an e-mail: “We have not had to ask for union concessions like other organizations have.” She pointed to spending on behalf of Spokane Education Association members in particular: “In fact, last November 2009 we spent $1 million on union interests/wants as part of our bargaining re-opener, so we believe we have treated union members fairly as well. Some of that went to salary schedule changes. The rest was in the form of additional compensation for additional work beyond the 7-hour school day.”
The higher insurance premiums and three fewer work days resulted from state budget cuts, officials said.
Bob Douthitt, Spokane school board vice president, said the board carefully considered the pay increases for administrators, including how their salaries compare to those in other districts.
He acknowledged that, given the current economy, “the timing, it was something that was on my mind. To keep an organization running, you have to have a reasonable spacing between levels in pay. It would have been unmanageable to change later or (give increases) on a case-by-case basis.”
The Spokane pay increases are in line with those in other districts, according to recent studies.
Nationally, top education administrators aren’t getting the big pay increases they received in previous years, but their salaries continue to go up, according to the 37th annual Educational Research Service survey. Assistant superintendents’ pay increased an average 3.1 percent, the largest gain among education leaders in K-12. Other pay raises ranged from 1.6 percent to 2.6 percent.
Liv Finne, the Washington Policy Center’s director of education, said she’s disturbed by rising pay among public-education administrators, noting Seattle administrators have received a 5 percent pay increase over the past two years.
“There’s been no rolling back,” Finne said. “They haven’t had to because they’ve been bailed out by the feds. What’s interesting is what’s coming next. They know the federal money will dry up. It just shows you the arrogance of our public school officials. They are living in a bubble, and no one is holding them accountable.”
Recent stories by Jody Lawrence-Turner
School districts emphasize science, trades May 26, 2012 4- Students to pay, work for prank May 24, 2012
- Sandpoint High students vandalize school in senior prank May 23, 2012 7
- Spokane schools officials’ pay frozen May 15, 2012 18
- Redinger brings fresh direction, expectations to District 81 May 13, 2012 7
oneanddone on September 19 at 6:11 a.m.
The real measure of how ridiculous this is goes to how much disruption there would be to educating children if the administrators walked. How about - NONE. It’s disgusting that funding isn’t focused primarily on the classroom.
liarsinnews on September 19 at 7:26 a.m.
In the private sector most employees, many of who have been laid off, have taken cuts in pay. District 81, is bloated with administrators, and it seems to me, this group should be thinned out. Why isn`t the Superintendent doing something about reducing costs in these economic down turn times??
lewis8457 on September 19 at 8:48 a.m.
They know there are enough folks in Spokane that will approve another levy. The don’t have to take cuts yet they have plenty of money flowing in.
Want to see your money being used in district 81 go look at what they are doing to Shadle Park. Shadle high school has used that area for years why now in these economic times do they need another baseball stadium? They have one on the corner of belt plus the city is building two at Joe Albie, who the hell is playing all this baseball?
westerly on September 19 at 9:08 a.m.
District 81 admins are sacred cows,intellectualy superior to the tax payers,pompous, arrogant faliling leaders in Spokanes 30 percent drop out rate. Stowell and her minions should take pay cuts……..” but that is not in our contracts, sorry!”
Rock60 on September 19 at 10:12 a.m.
Remember this article Spokanites when the elections roll around. Levy results are up to you.
straighttalk on September 19 at 10:27 a.m.
Why are they even getting step increases when they should be getting pay cuts like everyone else. Step increases for what; being in a job another year! Education unions are a disgrace to those who truly care about the quality of education. Meanwhile we’ re held hostage by unions who care not about the quality of education nor the cost; just another pay raise for doing the same job as usual: below par.
lewis8457 on September 19 at 11:21 a.m.
hopefully some good will come of this in that as we get broker and broker these types of jobs will go by the way side, and when we finally start to gain ground again the taxpayers will be watching a lot closer. One can only hope, the future will be a bit more fair for the working man with out a union watching his back.
eagleproducer on September 19 at 11:24 a.m.
Where are the comments that were first attached to this article?
Wait, I just checked and the first comments on this story were removed. I remember specifically what I wrote and IT DID NOT VIOLATE THE GUIDELINES OF THIS PAPER! STOP CENSORING POSTS THAT CONTAIN TRUTHS YOU DON’T HAVE THE GUTS TO PUBLISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll try again:
Both Mead and CV administrators waived pay increases. Their schools boast much higher levels of student achievement, students accepted to college and graduation rates than District 81. They spend about three thousand less per student than District 81. The mouthpiece for District 81 who attempts to justify the raises, Assistant Superintendent Staci Vesneske, states the rates of pay are in tune with the level of “accountability” of the employee. Did you all read that? They think they are “accountable.” I guess a drop out rate over 30% is “accountable.” I guess only a single high school in the district making adequate yearly progress under federal law is “accountable.”
Stowell makes well more than the governor, yet can’t be voted out of office for what amounts to abysmal performance.
The voters will be asked to fund a program on the November ballot seeking to alleviate the dysfunction produced by District 81’s failure to do their job. Don’t give them another dime until they are “accountable” for the money they are already spending.
oneanddone: We rarely agree but your take on not being able to notice if most of the admin types were eliminated is spot on. The only effect would be one less voice in the echo chamber. If they knew what they were doing they’d still be in the classroom.
Kody on September 19 at 11:40 a.m.
Washington residents need to reform education…there is no reason for more than 100 administrators in Spokane schools, except that there are nearly 13 school districts within this county. Reform needs to aim at reducing the number of statewide districts to just that of the 39 counties and not the more than 500 that taxpayers can no longer afford to support.
misjustice on September 19 at 11:47 a.m.
Those that can teach, do. Those that can’t, administrate.
So we’re laying off teachers but administrators get pay raises? This approach to education seems illogical, wrong, and unreal. Seems as if we’ve slipped down the rabbit hole..
“When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen’s “off with her head!”
Remember what the dormouse said;
“Keep YOUR HEAD”
From White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane
Ed Byrnes on September 19 at 12:29 p.m.
This situation shows how reversed the thinking has become in district 81, I think principals have the most thankless job so I support principals, teachers, librarians and counselors getting raises. The district level administrators should get pay cuts.
BTW misjustice thank you for the JA reference :-)
james_l on September 19 at 12:30 p.m.
I guess in this case, the school districts are emulating the private sector; those at the top get raises and those who do the work get laid off or salary cuts and/or freezes.
Does this really surprise anyone?
misjustice on September 19 at 12:32 p.m.
James, great point!
Dazzeetrader11 on September 19 at 12:37 p.m.
It’s what your precious teacher unions have given you J. Admins stay for the course…the new teachers hit the streets for window washing jobs., How do you like them now J?
Spoke…most of what you say should be banned under the “NO mindless blather” rule weinstalled two weeks ago.
How do you like being censored just like the Libs do when they don’t like a conservative person’s ideas. How do you like that now?
And finally, there STILL are no competency tests for teachers….thank the teachers union for that one too. Maybe it’s no big loss considering the rap stars we have as teachers and Mayors these days. How do you like it?
Libs are happy to name call, demean, censor, etc untill the gun’s turned on them. Hey Spoke…feelin’ good now?
polistra on September 19 at 12:45 p.m.
These things are eternal. My dad, a teacher, used to complain endlessly about the wooden-headed administrators in the 1950’s.
It’s just Parkinson’s Law #1. Administrators will always multiply in number and cost, with absolutely no connection to the size or quality of what they’re administering. Even if the teachers disappeared entirely, the admins would continue multiplying in number and cost.
eagleproducer on September 19 at 1:02 p.m.
Dazee: STILL no competency tests for teachers? I must have been hallucinating those Saturdays where I trudged to some building on the campus of Gonzaga to take the WEST B exam to measure across the curriculum knowledge and the PRAXIS Exams that attest to my academic specialties.
http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/certapp/4031.pdf
The only time I attack your writing, Dazee, is when it contains untruthful statements that are easily debunked with a cursory amount of research. You are intellectually lazy and I call you out on it all the time. That is the result of your blind ideology.
States that have mandatory unions for teachers produce higher student achievement rates than their “right-to-work” counterparts. This is another well established fact that you could have researched prior to your predictable union bashing. At the end of the day teachers are often the only advocates for students.
misjustice: I agree with the “those who can teach, do” statement except for the admin part. Admin types think they become teachers of teachers.
Dazzeetrader11 on September 19 at 1:15 p.m.
Spoke…your testing at Gonzaga has little to nothing to do with your employment. NONE…not one competency test influences employment unless you can’t write your name ( writing your name properly counts for 30% of the test. ..knowing your correct address counts for another 30%). You might be trudgeing through the snow to sign in…knowing full well it’s just a show. Readers…ask yourselves one question..”ever hear of a teacher in Dict 81 being fired for lack of competency”? There is the answer. Spoke…tell the full story…you might be trudgeing around on the moon for all the influence your so-called testing has on employment.
Admins are the teachers who have graduated to the “holy of holies” status. It’s a shell game. Spokane, New York, Houston, Beverly HIlls…we need about half because most don’t work but half time. Cuts are coming. Can’t afford the overhead anymore.
pamelar16 on September 19 at 1:27 p.m.
Regarding the ‘Details’ box stating the ‘school district administrators salaries’ data. Help me understand why the ONLY newspaper in the area left out the West Valley and East Valley salary data. It seems that the Spokesman has left part of the story untold. WV and EV have patrons in their tax base who would like this information also, and after all, we do pay you for this subcription too. Please, let’s have some complete reporting.
PlanB on September 19 at 1:58 p.m.
Administrator accountability… yea, when has that ever happened?
I interviewed for a job in administration for District 81. The panel didn’t ask me a single question about my work experience. When I attempted to discuss technical issues and project management, they looked at me with glazed over eyes, not appearing to have a clue to what I was talking about.
They were clueless. There is no way they could have evaluated my experience or potential work performance based on the interview. It should come as no surprise why our educational system is so messed up.
educationpoor on September 19 at 2:12 p.m.
This is happening all over. In the Idaho school district I work in, our teachers and ESP were cut days and no pay raise. Our administration put us in a “STATE OF EMERGENCY” status so the union could not touch them. In August the district received a two year grant for teacher and esp salaries. We did not get our days back or a raise. Our ‘Super” is trying to get a legacy built by running a levy for a new HS. So they are asking us to take a pay cut and support them on raising our property taxes to boot!! That is how intelligent these upper management people are. What is also a kick is that about 60% of our administration do not even live within the district to be able to vote or have their taxes increased.
Dazzeetrader11 on September 19 at 3:50 p.m.
Rid us of the teachers’ union and accountability will be put in place. Unions have ruined the structure by superceding and controlling the curricula and the teachers.
Administrators do nothing..they take up space, have meetings, drink coffee….clean the unions out and things get better. Then the motivated trained instructors can do the work. Get the politics out of schools. Only the children suffer.
PlanB…brings up a key point. What to do when the Admins can’t/won’t do the work? Fire em. Sorry for your experience PlanB. Doesn’t surprise Daisy though.
opiemuyo on September 19 at 5:10 p.m.
I live in a small house, take the bus and a full 1/3 of my post tax money goes to schooling for my kids at parochial and Prep. I am so glad that my kids are no where near these morons running public skrewl. I pray for you all that have to have your kids in this top down dysfunctional atrocity, and bless the good teachers in this system doing every thing they can to fix it.
eagleproducer on September 19 at 5:55 p.m.
Dazee: You demand that politics be removed from education but every one of your “solutions” is politically motivated by the right wing nutters attempting to privatize every aspect of life.
States with mandated union membership produce much higher academic achievement from students than right-to-work states. Do some research for a change before pecking out your predictable laments about anything progressive.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/sep/02/randi-weingarten/randi-weingarten-says-students-strong-union-states/
zelda on September 19 at 5:57 p.m.
My first college class was a history survey course which appeared to be quite popular with teachers going for their 5th year over the summer. It was not a difficult class but the whining and moaning from the teachers over a relatively simple quiz or multiple-choice test was amazing. You’d have thought they accidentally woke up in a theoretical physics lab. Thankfully the professor had integrity and didn’t hand out A’s like M & M’s.
Public education in this country has turned into a huge entitlement program. It’s like those medical equipment outfits that bill Medicare/Medicaid $500 for a wooden cane. I’m all for stable employment but public ed has taken job security to an unsustainable extreme. Seems like a lot of the teachers (not all) and the administrators have something in common with the UAW and the irresponsible management at GM. Having employment security is a good thing, but when no one can agree on objective standards for teacher performance or student performance, this is what you get.
eagleproducer on September 19 at 6:00 p.m.
What other areas of the public sector have taken hits like education. I’m tired of hearing that “everyone is suffering” when that is absolutely not true.
The last time I checked, the DOD got a hefty increase in funding this year. Why can’t we figure a way to trim some of that fat before attacking teachers for doing a job most of you won’t.
katya on September 19 at 7:42 p.m.
Teachers have long desired recognition as a “professional class” like doctors, dentists and lawyers; the notion of being associated with the “working class” rubs them the wrong way.
Teacher associations & graduate school programs have found a way to fill this desire. Many (WSU Spokane locally) offer Principal’s & Superintendent’s certificates, as well as doctoral level programming. These programs are a veritable cash cow for the universities/colleges and for the teachers? Prestige, much better pay ranges and positions that are often filled by young people who haven’t had much teaching experience.
Even to their own teachers and support staff, administrators (and their staff) exhibit haughty attitudes. They ask the direct service workers to fill gaping needs (all kinds; not just educational) and then set themselves above the rest. This isn’t professional or accountable behavior, it’s appalling.
eagleproducer on September 20 at 8:24 a.m.
How many people are aware of what it takes to become a teacher since the “highly qualified” requirements of No Child Left Behind became the law of the land for teacher training? The law calls for much closer inspection of certification candidates, intensified methods courses, tons of in class experience, community service, student teaching and the passage of mandatory state administered exams that measure both subject area and pedagogical expertise. That sounds a lot like how other professionals receive licensing.
Most of the teachers currently in the classroom were not required to meet these new standards and were grandfathered into the new system. The same goes for their bosses.
Those who took their training within the last five years received stronger scrutiny of their record/history prior to acceptance into a certification program. They are going to be better teachers. Yet they are waiting tables, cooking in restaurants, cleaning your hotel rooms because they can’t find jobs due to the massive cuts education has absorbed. They also come a lot cheaper than those who are currently teaching, especially those at the top clogging the system. They are like a fat blood clot slowly moving it’s way towards the Aorta while a new generation of teachers watches the system crumble further as their earning potential is impacted for decades.
There needs to be more competition for teaching jobs, that I will agree with, Daisy. I don’t think it is unreasonable that EVERY teaching job be opened EVERY three years and ALL qualified candidates be allowed to apply.
gkambs on September 21 at 4:45 p.m.
Ms. Vesneske says in this article:
“When you are able to provide a balanced budget that also preserves step increases and which pays people fairly for their responsibilities and accountability, you’re going to do that. In years where it’s not possible to balance the budget and preserve step increases, then you won’t.” I am not sure what all that means but it does not mean no balanced budget no pay raise for administrators since she received a pay raise every year for the last 5 years. I am not hear to pick on her, but I think the public should see the actual numbers provided by the OSPI.
D-81 Budget Balance
2004-05 $0.00
2005-06 -$2,263,295.00
2006-07 -$6,840,322.00
2007-08 $0.00
2008-09 $0.00
2009-10 -$1,551,507.00
I believe posting the base salaries can be a little misleading to the public. I have not seen the 2009-10 & 2010-11 total employee salaries but taking what is posted on the Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s website, the OSPI numbers present a clearer picture for salary and actual compensation. For instance Ms. Vesneske’s actual compensation;
2008-09 base salary $123,374.00
Other salary $13,366.00
Total salary $142,996.00
Insurance benefits $15,235.00
MandBen $18,096.00
Total other benefits $33,331.00
Total salary and
benefits 2008-09, $176,327.00
A 54% increase in 5 years. Her total salary and benefits 2004-05, $114,402.00
This article mentions the Spokane median income even though it dropped lets round it off to 45K double that to 90K for use in this example
In the 2008-09 information provided by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation you will notice Spokane District 81 is missing about 1000 employees from the previous year, from 3836 total employees in 2007-08 to 2885 in the 2008-09 school year. Even more interesting is the amount of school district employees making over 90K (twice the median) it went from 132 in 2007-08 to 709 in 2008-09 a 537% increase, without accounting for the wages of the missing 1000 employees, figure on the low end about 51 million floating out there unaccounted for in this example. In 2007-08 it looks like only 4 teachers were earning above 90k in total salary and benefits 148 teachers in the 2008-09 data. Even though I believe those increases are not tied into performance but time on the job, it is still a step in the right direction for teachers. It looks like the district took full advantage of balancing it’s budget for 2 years in a row. One must wonder if the massive administrative pay raises were a planned event. I know during this time I had to go buy clay for my son because none was available in his pottery class at school. He mentions how much the teachers are always complaining about no money. We know from this article and every other indicator that the money still is not making it to the classroom but lingering in the boardroom. It is the school board who approves all these expenditures.
http://www.effwa.org/main/article.php?article_id=1067
eagleproducer on September 21 at 5:17 p.m.
gkambs: Thanks for providing clarity with the numbers you posted. A 54% increase for administrators in five years is obscene, especially when one considers all the out-of-pocket expenses teachers cover for their classrooms.
gkambs on September 21 at 9:14 p.m.
spoketucky: Your welcome, glad to see someone is still reading this thread, usually when I am a couple of days late it seems like I am always the last post and no one comes back and reads the numbers behind the numbers information I enjoy posting. I like the blogs that email you when someone posts on a thread you posted on, keeps everyone up to date.
I always like how school boards rationalize these super salaries by quoting national and state salaries, indicating thats how we attract quality administrators, etc, etc. In approving all the pay raises every year you have to wonder if the school board and school board vice president Bob Douthitt considered their administrators record. The highest drop out rate in the state, the highest suspension rate in the state for general and special education students, the lowest on time graduation rate for special education students in the state 35.8%, the highest rate of students taking remedial math in the state for freshman starting college. Don’t quote me on the state average but I believe it is somewhere in the 50 percentile. I know Spokane schools are in the high 90 percentile according to data from SCC and SFCC. What else can we be number 1 at? Is anyone else floored by these facts?