Do Texas Schools Spend Too Much on Administration?
Beaumont Independent School District is the 64th largest in Texas. It is also the home of the state’s highest-paid public school administrator. Superintendent Carrol Thomas takes home $346,778 annually — a fact that could soon bring an uncomfortable spotlight to the community.
For lawmakers scrutinizing every possible saving, the broad category of “administrative costs” presents an easy mark.
State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston and the vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee, called the 58,575 people employed in nonteaching support positions by Texas public schools —”your math department supervisors, your curriculum experts” — a "soft target" for budget cutters ...
Comments (22)
DMedina
"15 to 20 of them are actually paid for in federal grants" - seems bureaucrats will never understand, it's still OUR money. Efficiency means productivity without waste. It is this sort of thinking--it's o.k. to staff up (spend, spend, spend) because the money comes from another source (my left pocket rather than my right)--this misguided philosophy that's at the root of the current budget crisis. Public education ought to be about education. That means teachers in the classroom!
Hays Glover
This grotesque salary is one thing. The pension this administrator will receive in retirement is quite another. The annual outlay could conceivably exceed $250,000 a year for life!!!
JJ Baskin
DMedina, I don't think anyone disputes that it is taxpayer money. I believe the reference to federal moneys is intended to provide context--you cannot compare 1,000 school districts as apples-to-apples. Sometimes the federally funded administration costs are to support innovations that often lead to more effective school practices everywhere. Some of those federally funded programs are technology related and some are around incentive or merit pay. By developing proof of concept in some districts, productivity can be implemented with lower risk and less waste in many districts in the future.
I certainly understand the desire for stewardship of public funds and I share that desire, although we probably measure it differently. If a district WERE NOT applying for federal funds, that would make me more concerned about the district for leaving something on the table. Don't blame them for seeking the federal funds. Stop the source of the funds if those are your beliefs.
The root of the budget crisis is not public education, it is the tax system and the most complex set of state and federal mandates with the most challenging and diverse student populations in the world. Yes, some districts could be more focused on the bottom line, but many of them are doing an honorable and often thankless job.
Harold Wayne Stone via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I think admin salaries should be tied to teacher salaries. No superintendant's salary should exceed 20 percent of his distict's teacher's average salary.
Cynthia Casper Robertson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
In a word . . . yes. I think their salaries should be predicated upon student performance. Given that Texas is 47th in the US in education, seems to me that someone should whip out the scissors and start slashing the administrator's salaries.
Scott McCown
Our problem is the Great Recession and the 2006 Tax Cut. Administrative savings won't begin to close our revenue gap. And I am disappointed to see the Tribune repeat a charge that has been proven false. The ratio of teachers to non-teachers has NOT grown to 1 to 1 today from 1 to 4 in the 1970s. Texas did not count all staff in the 1970s—the largest portion of non-teaching staff, auxiliary
staff, were not counted until the 1980s. The percentage of teachers to non-teachers has actually
not changed substantially since the late 1980s. Teachers need support from aides and counselors and nurses and no one has established any significant administrative inefficiency. And why is it of concern that Texas schools are the 5th largest employer in the world--if they are. Texas is educating over 4 million kids. Of course schools are a major employer. Instead of attacking schools, we need to begin a serious conversation about how we can raise the money to educate our growing population. It is a major asset if educated.
Mary Lynn VanZandt Neill via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Please, let's hope Beaumont grows up. I went through the public school system...administrative costs are ridiculous.Particularly since my teacher friends are underpaid and underappreciated.
Anonymous User via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We need to pay our teachers, the district administration shouldn't be making more than the school administration and in many cases, the district administrations need to be severely cut back...
Evelyn White via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Good Grief! No wonder they are going broke!
Mac Mcclure via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Morgan, why don't you take this one step farther. Take the 4 largest school districts in Texas and list the number of teachers, number of those in administration, the average salary of each, the amount paid the superintendent, and the total annual budget. Then compare that to 5 years ago.
Bryan Noteboom
For me, the math has always been fairly simple and yet puzzling: in a state with 254 counties, is there really a need for 1,100+ public school districts? Sure, mega-districts like Houston and Dallas should probably be split into 3-4 districts each, but the consolidation of districts beyond the large metro markets could and should yield enormous savings in administrative and related costs.
At the very least, those districts that see 40-50% of their property tax revenues transferred away as a function of Robin Hood should have some influence as to how those dollars are spent / invested by the "poor" districts.
Sonora Hartley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
OMg what a salary!!! Their drop out rate must be zero and 99% go to college, right?
Sharon Arnoult via Texas Tribune on Facebook
YES, YES, YES! And in higher ed, too. No way UTexas needs 25 VPs each making a quarter-mil or more. After all it's not like their enrollment has grown -- it's actually lower than when I was there in the 70s!
larry ascough
I, like Scott McCown, thought the 1 to 1 non-teacher/teacher ratio claim had been shown to be untrue on several occasions. If nothing else, those who print such quotes are responsible for asking those who use them to cite a source. If not, people can just say anything they want and soon everyone will believe it. I think several infamous regimes used that approach....and they also did away with legitimate journalists so their claims wouldn't be questioned. By the way, what is the source for Texas education being the 5th largest employer the world? Does that just incude public K-12 schools, or also higher ed?
pragmaticus
I find this to be a much more useful question than whether teachers should have collective bargaining rights.
Teachers are onerously sandwiched between dysfunctional kids/parents and swelling, intrusive bureaucratic administration. One stress is more fixable than the other.
Hire more teachers and spend less on pretty buildings and high falutin' administration.
Blake W Walker via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Please help me understand. Superintendents are on the tax payers back. If this has not ever crossed your mind I will inform u, people that earn a living off tax payers backs are public servants. How many teachers jobs can u save by cutting Super's salary by fifty percent, in this case almost four. Education does not start in an admin office, it starts in a classroom. Me, the common tax payer would rather have four teachers that actually earn my tax money by putting up with ignorant parent that think education stops for their child after the last bell than an over educated greedy individual that is so out of touch with the education system that the closest he has been to a classroom in years is his assistant visiting a classroom. Having assistants is another comment. By the way along with assistants, there is a legal department, accounting department and about thirty or more assistant type jobs in each admin office multiplied by 1058 districts. I believe that if the districts were consolidated there would be a substantial savings, one county, one admin office. I do not care if some of the money to pay admin salaries comes out of federal funds, it is still on the tax payers back. Public servants should not have salaries that exceed the average income of the people they serve. Letting the districts decide what to cut is like the fox guarding the hen house.
Susan Topper via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It is hard when you make that much money to understand the problems that us little people suffer.
Jaye Ramsey Sutter via Texas Tribune on Facebook
You are paid to not understand.
When was the last time she taught a full day of classes?
Brent Connett
With respect to Judge McCown, the numbers, as reported by the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, speak for themselves. According to the Comptroller's FAST report, spending on public education has nearly doubled in the past decade, to nearly $55 billion. Blaming court-mandated property tax cuts in 2006 for today's education budget problems is baseless, especially since public education spending has increased above and beyond both enrollment growth and inflation since 1998 (including those school years following the property tax cut). Yet increased funds are not only going to classrooms, but also to fund growth in non-teaching personnel who have little or no relation to the core mission of any system of education: teaching and learning. Of all employees of Texas public schools for the 2007-2008 school year, only 50.7 percent were teachers. Statewide, the ratio of teachers to non-teachers is one-to-one. In the mid-1970s, the ratio was approximately two and a half teachers to every non-teacher, per TEA data. The state's revenue shortfall requires making tough decisions based on priorities, and conservatives choose classroom instruction and teachers over educational bureaucracy. At a minimum, the number of school employees other than classroom teachers should be rolled back to the 2004-2005 levels, which would yield a savings of $1.5 billion.
mike neil
Dr. Thomas has had a sweetheart contract for a long time. Each year, he automatically gets a percent raise and the fifth year of his five year contract gets rolled back in if he gets a 2.5 out of 5 rating in his review. He has a school board that rubberstamps everything for him and he does the same in return for them. Only one board trustee, Tom Neild, dares to question him. Tom is treated like a leper by his fellow trustees.
The problem began when Beaumonters continued to elect these trustees. No one went to the polls. in the past elections. One trustee had a total of 400 out of 13,000 registered voters show up to vote. Things will be different in May. Five of the seven trustees seats are up for election and there is a referendum on the ballot that will change the format of the board from 7 single member districts to 5 single member and 2 at-large trustees. Over 10,000 signatures were collected despite an opposition from a group of people (led by BISD) that claim to represent the minorities in the district. The current board make up is 4 African American and 3 white trustees. It is hard to make a case of race when the board is balanced like that, but try they did.
Despite all the talk of budget shortfalls, our school board has decided that we need an event center. This event center is being prioritized over the need for 2 new elementary schools that Dr. Thomas has said publicly we need. Despite that, the board says the event center will come first and Dr. Thomas has yet to disagree with them. Of course, it should be mentioned that this event center will be an addition to the $47M "Dr. Carroll "Butch" Thomas Educational Support Center" that the taxpayers approved (originally $30M) as part of a bond package.
Eric Bittner
The administration salaries in the education sector are simply reflective of the salaries paid to CEOs and management in the private sector. In the end, it's about attracting and retaining the best people...who like the rest of us ultimately want and deserve to earn a competitive wage. Last I checked, being a public servent does not come with a vow of poverty. On the other hand, the salaries and compensation packaged paid out to administrators at all levels is outrageous when compared to the typical teacher's compensation package. A redistribution of the wealth to the workers (i.e. pay teachers more, pay school administrators less & pay coaches nothing) makes a whole lot of sense.
Zet Chipp
No, we don't.
What the lying Retardicans don't tell you, in true "lies damn lies and statistics" fashion, is that their "1 to 1" count includes the following things:
- part-time employees (part-time teachers' aides, bus drivers, janitors) counted by body count, not hours count. If you worked 10 hours a week, they counted you as if you were a full-timer.
- Double-counting people who work both teaching and nonteaching roles. For example, if the history teacher is also the basketball coach, he just became a "nonteacher" for purposes of their lying fuzzy math.
- Redefining "teachers" as only those teachers who teach a homeroom. If you're an ESL teacher? Deaf translator? Blind therapist? Special-education? Sorry, according to the Retardicans you don't qualify as a "teacher" for their lying fuzzy math.
We welcome our retardican masters - taking our kids from 36th in the nation down to 50th, exactly the wrong way to go!