the number and salaries of JCPS admins

Antoinette Kunz has an outstanding article in the C-J this morning-- detailing the number and salaries of JCPS admins (above the level of principal). The issue has arisen given the budget difficulties of the state-- and therefore, the local govts and schools. JCPS is looking at a 4.4% cut in overall budget ($35 million of $800 million, according to the article); it would seem that JCPS admins ought to cut compensation by at least 4%. But at this point, they're wrestling with a 1% cut in the 2/3rds of salary expense unrelated to grants. By focusing on that subset of compensation, they're probably looking at an overall reduction of .5% in compensation.

The biggest value-added for me was the table of names, jobs, and contract salaries of the district's 175 administrators. (According to the article, JCPS lists full-time 13,800 employees-- aside from the "admins" listed here.) One funny thing about newspapers vs. internet: the hard copy of the newspaper devoted half a page to it; on the web, you must click a tiny link on the upper-right hand portion of the article's webpage.

I'm quite familiar with the theories that speak to bureaucracy and compensation. And I'm familiar with some of the literature on bureaucracy and wages. That said, I was still surprised at the number of admins and their salaries (both higher than I expected).

My first thought was to check out the following myself, but I've emailed Antoinette to see if she might be interested:

-It'd be interesting to have info on their benefits and any deferred compensation. Often, these are higher than average/comparable.

-It'd be very interesting to compare the concentration and compensation of bureaucracies between JCPS, CAL and the Catholic schools in Louisville. I know of some older (and staggering) numbers comparing the proportion of admin between public and Catholic schools, esp. in NYC.

-This might be tougher, but since other states, localities and school districts are in similar budget predicaments, there may be a burgeoning national database on such questions as answered by reporters.

Here are some excerpts from the article:

Jefferson County Public Schools could save $200,000 in the coming school year if it cut administrative salaries by 1 percent as some school board members have urged.

Roughly $19.4 million in administrative salaries are being paid from the district's general fund...An additional $10 million in administrative salaries are paid from various federal and private grants, officials say, and cutting those salaries would not help balance the budget.

Superintendent Sheldon Berman has opposed cutting administrative salaries unless they are part of a district-wide pay cut. Instead, he has proposed $35 million of spending reductions for the 2009-10 school year....

Berman said the district expects a $45 million revenue shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July 1...He plans on using the district's reserve funds to cover the remaining $10 million.

Board members have questioned some of Berman's proposed cuts, saying they hurt important programs....

Of those [175] administrators, 124 make more than $100,000...[Of the full-timers, all except 8 earn at least $85K; all except 3 earn $76K.]

The administration positions range from assistant superintendents and school liaisons to human-resource staffers and public-relations specialists. The positions do not include principals and guidance counselors....

Berman said cutting the district's salaries 1 percent would save about $5.3 million. But he said it would not help much, since the state is mandating a 1 percent pay raise next year....