Good Pay for Good People

Does this bother you?

At least 26 public school officials in Ozaukee and Washington counties were paid salaries of more than $100,000 in the 2006-‘07 school year, newly gathered data show.

Honestly, it doesn’t bother me.  Compensation for school administrators should always be evaluated and monitored, but good administrators are worth a good compensation package.  For example, the West Bend School District has over a thousand employees, a bunch of buildings, and nearly 7,000 students.  Does the superintendent - who is essentially the CEO - of such an organization deserve a six-figure salary?  Yes. 

What bothers me more than the individual compensation of the superintendent is the superfluous staff that is also earning a hefty wage.  Back to our West Bend example, under the superintendent (district administrator) are an assistant district administrator and director of instruction/program supervisor - each of whom earn well over $100,000.  It seems to me that with all of the money that the district is spending on a superintendent, it wouldn’t be too far out of line to have her fulfill the role of a director of instruction.  Or perhaps the assistant superintendent could help out with supervising the programs?  There are also several well-paid principals.  Could they be empowered with some of the tasks currently being done by some of these highly paid administrators? 

I have no problem paying well for good administrators, but let’s just make sure that the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth and that the administrators aren’t over-delegating.