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I think it should be. Here in Arizona, only 50% of education money makes it into the classroom, despite many efforts to increase it. I see nothing wrong with experienced teachers making more than administrators. Look at what these people are worth in the private sector--10 per hour? If even employable. I knew hundreds of people in college, who were studying to become teachers; I never met anyone, who wanted to become an administrator. What went wrong? I would cap administrator pay at 52,000 per year in Arizona, which is a low cost of living State. Where do you think it should be capped in your area?
They become administrators for several reasons: more money (when I got my admin cert almost everyone in my cohort said that was why. I, on the other hand, found the admin course work more interesting than the M.Ed courses.). Some go into admin because they think they can make a bigger difference in management. Others because they're marginal in the classroom (more than most systems will admit).
I understand your point but translate compensation to what a private manager would get for supervising X department heads (teachers), support staff and the number of employees (students).
Oh, so there's no confusion, I may have my admin cert but I stayed in the classroom, although I'm sort of a department head with the AP program. I looked at what a school based administrator contends with: dealing with pretty much only the bad kids, Saturday football games, Tuesday and Friday night basketball games, track/softball/baseball games on beautiful days, bat **** crazy parents, meddling school board members, and all the other negative stuff and for me all that outweighed any benefits being an administrator might have had.
They become administrators for several reasons: more money (when I got my admin cert almost everyone in my cohort said that was why. I, on the other hand, found the admin course work more interesting than the M.Ed courses.). Some go into admin because they think they can make a bigger difference in management. Others because they're marginal in the classroom (more than most systems will admit).
I understand your point but translate compensation to what a private manager would get for supervising X department heads (teachers), support staff and the number of employees (students).
Oh, so there's no confusion, I may have my admin cert but I stayed in the classroom, although I'm sort of a department head with the AP program. I looked at what a school based administrator contends with: dealing with pretty much only the bad kids, Saturday football games, Tuesday and Friday night basketball games, track/softball/baseball games on beautiful days, bat **** crazy parents, meddling school board members, and all the other negative stuff and for me all that outweighed any benefits being an administrator might have had.
Thanks for that. Can you shed light on where the money actually goes? I read somewhere recently that the amount of money Americans spend per student has doubled since 1985, adjusted for inflation. Yet it doesn't trickle down to the teachers.
only 50% of education money makes it into the classroom
This is an issue. In fact it is the only pertinent issue in your complaint.
Regardless of the number of administrators...
Regardless of what their wage & benefit costs are...
Getting the funds into the classroom needs to be the focus.
Throwing the administrators under the bus to achieve that goal?
It's inelegant at best and probably not helpful overall.
I do believe that mnay administrators i school system I see are way out of line.But I certinly do not see them making what teachewrs make at the very top leaves of running a large system.But I tythnik i coming years the entrie school pay system is in for alot of shocks in reduction. The defcit i states and fgederal government are not going away for decades;if not much later.
Thanks for that. Can you shed light on where the money actually goes? I read somewhere recently that the amount of money Americans spend per student has doubled since 1985, adjusted for inflation. Yet it doesn't trickle down to the teachers.
A rule of thumb is that about 80% of a school system's budget is labor related costs. Keep in mind that labor isn't just teachers but it also includes custodians, secretaries, journeyman maintenance guys (bigger systems), bus drivers, mechanics (bigger systems for both of those, too).
You have Counselors, Media Specialists (librarians), with computers you really need an IT person to fix stuff, load programs, etc. All of the above go into per pupil cost.
With high stakes testing most systems have found they need testing specialist to make sense of the tests and curriculum specialists to put it together for the classroom teacher. With all the exit tests now being implemented you now have to have tutoring/alternatives methods for all those kids that don't pass the exam the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. time.
Unfunded mandates for special programs, not just Special Ed, can really chew up the money. The testing stuff I mentioned above comes under that but there are other things, too. My system in MD, as several others have been, was directed (ordered) by the State Department of Education (MSDE) to implement mandatory self esteem programs in the high schools that are to teach not only that but anger management techniques, study skills, interpersonal relationship skills, etc. All unfunded, but still a per pupil expense.
MSDE mandated a required technology course for all 9th and 10th graders a couple years ago. Of course no State money was attached to the mandate but computers and books still had to be bought and teachers still had to be hired or trained.
The mandates don't stop at the State level, the feds get into it, too. From No Child Left Behind to the various IDEA statutes.
A kid who has to be put into special placement for behavior or cognitive reasons can run you $300K/year in a boarding situation.
All of that goes into per pupil expense.
Now, I know what you're kind of getting at and that is central office staff. I have to admit that I still have trouble figuring out exactly what the Associate Assistant to the Assistant Superintendent For Inter-Governmental Affairs actually does.
I think it should be. Here in Arizona, only 50% of education money makes it into the classroom, despite many efforts to increase it. I see nothing wrong with experienced teachers making more than administrators. Look at what these people are worth in the private sector--10 per hour? If even employable. I knew hundreds of people in college, who were studying to become teachers; I never met anyone, who wanted to become an administrator. What went wrong? I would cap administrator pay at 52,000 per year in Arizona, which is a low cost of living State. Where do you think it should be capped in your area?
Hard to say when you start with bad logic.
Personally, I don't think "capping" salaries is a road we should be going down. From experience, that makes everything difficult.
I live in a county where the school superintendent makes more than either the Secretary of Education or the Vice President. Somehow, that seems a bit ridiculous.
I don't think their pay needs to be capped, but I would like to see it tied to performance like it is starting to be with teachers. Also, most administrators still maintain their teaching license (even if they're not in the classroom). Their salary gets factored in with all the other teachers' when "they" calculate average teacher salaries across a region, which can skews things and make the general public think teachers make more than they say they are.
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