Have you heard about this? The school superintendent in Fresno County, California, Larry Powell, is a hero to taxpayers nationwide:
Some people give back to their community. Then there’s Fresno County School Superintendent Larry Powell, who’s really giving back. As in $800,000 – what would have been his compensation for the next three years.
Until his term expires in 2015, Powell will run 325 schools and 35 school districts with 195,000 students, all for less than a starting California teacher earns.
“How much do we need to keep accumulating?” asks Powell, 63. “There’s no reason for me to keep stockpiling money.”
…[Powell asked] his board to allow him to return $288,241 in salary and benefits for the next three and a half years of his term. He technically retired, then agreed to be hired back to work for $31,000 a year – $10,000 less than a first-year teacher – and with no benefits.
Setting aside for a moment Powell’s generosity, though, take a look at his salary and responsibilities compared to District 150’s superintendent:
| Fresno Supt. | Peoria Supt. | |
|---|---|---|
| Schools | 325 | 28 |
| Districts | 35 | 1 |
| Students | 195,000 | 13,021 |
| Salary | $288,241* | $198,000** |
| *Including benefits | **Not including benefits | ||
The school board also awarded District 150’s superintendent a $10,000 bonus this year. It seems the Fresno superintendent has a much bigger responsibility. If you run the numbers, you’ll see that Peoria’s school system is less than 7% the size of Fresno’s by enrollment, yet our superintendent’s salary is almost 70% the size of Fresno’s — not including benefits.
Am I suggesting that our superintendent should only get 7% of what Fresno’s makes (it comes to a little less than $20,000)? No, of course not. But I am questioning whether $198,000 is too high, given the size of our school district. If the Fresno superintendent thinks he’s overpaid at $288,000, and his school district is nearly 14 times the size of ours, then it seems we may have a problem — especially when you factor in the cost of living. According to BestPlaces.net, Fresno is 26% more expensive than Peoria, housing in Fresno is 75% more expensive than Peoria, and a salary equivalent to $198,000 in Peoria would be $250,371 in Fresno.
I’m sure I’ll be accused of comparing apples and oranges, but it does make a taxpayer wonder if our salary scales for administrators are too high. The educational opportunities provided at schools, such as scholarships for masters degree, may be one of he reasons. And oh, that there would be more public-sector workers like Powell — ones who would say, “There’s no reason for me to keep stockpiling money,” and voluntarily take a pay cut for the sake of better government service.
“He technically retired” – do you also wonder if he’s thus collecting a pension? The man should definitely be applauded for giving back to the community, but it helps to see the whole picture. The link to that article goes on to say, “Powell will still earn a six-figure retirement, especially hefty by the standards of California’s farming heartland.”
“I’m sure I’ll be accused of comparing apples and oranges, but it does make a taxpayer wonder if our salary scales for administrators are too high.”
If you already know you’re not comparing apples to apples, why try to reach some conclusion based on a faulty comparison? Why not simply try and make a better comparison?
Oops, I was wrong. Jon, enjoys being everyone’s “them.” Even more than Dr. Lathan’s salary, I am concerned that she seems to be paying off a good many personal favors with District 150 money. In addition to filling so many positions with North Carolinians, this summer several groups of teachers went to North Carolina for various workshops–spending money in North Carolina.
Also, she should have refused the $10,000 bonus this year. It was supposed to go to a state-mandated mentor. She accepted a free mentor, obviously, so that she could get the $10,000.
Jon — I read the whole article. Yes, he’s getting a big pension. But that’s not really relevant. No matter how you look at it, he’s still giving $800,000 back to the school district over the next three and a half years. And I didn’t say I actually was comparing apples and oranges, only that I would probably be accused of it.
Exactly what Sharon said. She surely would argue that her North Carolina contacts are “the best in the business” and that is why she continues to throw Peoria taxpayers money out of state. We now know, however, her Pals often fall far short of ideal. One need look no further than the Transportation Department. Hey by the way we haven’t heard from Dr. Lathan’s spokesperson and puppeteer lately – CEO of the Peoria Chamber of Commerce and by extension, Peoria Public Schools, Roberta Parks.
What district is arguably most similar to Peoria District 150? How about Springfield, also in central Illinois, with an enrollment of 14,543 (65% of which are low income students). The Springfield school superintendent has a base salary of $220k.
Rock Island is another district that comes to mind, but it’s enrollment is only 6,001, or less than half of D150. I’m not saying the superintendent’s salary should be less than half of Lathan’s, but it’s still $170k.
Rockford’s school district (27,181) is over twice the size of Peoria’s, but it’s superintendent has a salary of $220k.
Of course, the head of the Chicago Public Schools, overseeing 410,000 students, has a salary of $250k. Gee, by that measure, that Fresno guy probably needs to give back even more than the $800k he plans to do.
Thanks for the additional info, Jon. I guess that goes to show that superintendent salaries are not tied to any objective measure, such as enrollment or community size. Might it be better public policy if they were?
And we wonder what is wrong with society in America.
Apparently, Larry Powell is practicing the all-too-uncommon trait of Altruism, defined by Webster as the “unselfish regard for the welfare of others”. Now I know this is hard to believe, given the past three or four generations of “What’s in it for me?” thinking, but perhaps, once in a great while, there are a few people in this world who are genuinely concerned with their community and the people they serve.
Perhaps we should hold this man up as an example to be praised, not attempt to belittle his actions. I have seen too many people who started out to do something right become just another drone after realizing their attempts were not appreciated.
Just a thought.
I think superintendent salary is likely more tied to a skill set that is necessary to perform a job of this level.
Frustrated — I don’t think that will stand up to scrutiny. If that were true, how would smaller school districts ever afford a superintendent? In fact, the salary range is all over the place. There’s a superintendent in Iowa that makes $55,000 a year. Is it a smaller district? You bet. But that’s my point.
Or look at it this way: In 1993, with enrollment in District 150 at 16,000, then-superintendent John Strand made $92,000/yr., plus benefits. That’s $143,839.61 in 2011 dollars according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So we have a situation where the superintendent’s salary has gone up over 37% in constant dollars, but enrollment has declined about 19%. Something is wrong with this picture.
I don’t know C.J., it seems to make sense to me. Being a superintendent these days is a very political job and taking on the leadership position at the District has more risk than it did in 1993. Every applicant that interviews for this position has to be considering how will I come out on the other side of this assignment and the District has to make it worth the incumbent’s while to even try to take on this challenge.
I fear that the skill sets of most superintendents are not worthy of these exhorbitant salaries.
All jobs are at risk nowadays, Frustrated. None of us has any guarantees.
Maybe we should go back to having hometown “boys” and now “girls” being superintendents in Peoria. The education system in Peoria is not large enough to attract any superintendent with high qualifications. When a hometown educator becomes superintendent, he/she doesn’t take so much risk. What we have now is a system throughout the country of carpetbagger superintendents who take their high salaries and run. They move from one school district to another. A superintendent should have some loyalty to the city in which he/she works. These fly-by-night superintendents don’t have to care about the repercussions of their bad decisions–they will be long gone before anyone realizes the damage that was done.
We need to do something to take the “politics” out of education.
Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to groom some retired local educators for the job of superintendent. As Jon pointed out, the Fresno superintendent has a retirement salary. A retiree would make a perfect superintendent for just that reason–experience and they shouldn’t demand a high salary.
I think we may be overestimating the skill that is required to be a superintendent. The person in charge of finances should probably have the highest set of skills–and no 150 superintendent has been an expert in finances. A good superintendent mostly needs people skills–the skill to find good people to work for him/her.
I am all for taking the CEO mentality out of education.
So says Sharon, who couldn’t wait for local talent Ken Hinton to leave.
What? I was not very quick to jump on that bandwagon. Out of deference to Ken’s brother Adrian, I found it difficult to bad-mouth Ken Hinton. Ken, however, wasn’t the only local superintendent for District 150–in fact, most have been “home grown.” We have always taken the good with the bad, the better and the best, etc. However, I don’t believe any of been any worse than the out-of-towners who came to do some kind of dirty work for the board and then escape the criticism by leaving. I actually liked Strand as a person–most did not like him. However, he did his damage by shutting down industrial arts and home ec for good. However, both were all but dead before he got here. Of course, there was Royster and now Lathan.
I would like to see the end of this trend of trading one high-priced out-of-town superintendent for another every three or so years. These superintendents come here as a stepping stone and have little concern for the future of the district.
CJ, spending on education overall has grown faster than inflation over the past couple of decades, if not longer. In 1993, the average per pupil spending in Illinois was $5,327. In 2010 it was $11,197. That equates to an increase of 35% in constant dollars – right on par with the increase in the D150 superintendent’s salary (which is but one sample).
Granted, the enrollment in D150 is down, but as the percentage of low income students has steadily increased, the number of students with greater needs has increased. Statistically speaking, low income students don’t perform as well as non-low income students (whose families are often more involved in education at home and/or have the resources for additional learning opportunities). Arguably, there is a much greater challenge in educating poor inner city students than a largely homogenous middle class suburban district.
Jon, I would think it’s mathematically certain that as superintendent (and other administrative) salaries go up, so does per pupil spending. Isn’t that circular reasoning?
I’ll grant your premise that “there is a much greater challenge in educating poor inner city students than a largely homogen[e]ous middle class suburban district.” But who is the superintendent educating, exactly? Perhaps the larger salaries should be going to the special needs teachers who are actually facing these challenges.
A simple internet search will show you Lathan made less than a $100,000 grand a year only 3 years ago when many others in her system made more. Somehow she gained $100,000 plus dollars of experience in that short time? What has she exactly done? Fear is high, systems are more confusing, test scores are worse. Does that warrent a raise?
‘Wonderful development’ is dead.
http://tellpeoria.com/peoriapundit/2011/09/01/wonderful-development-appears-to-be-dead-killed-by-the-city-upset-developer-didnt-deliver/
“Jon, I would think it’s mathematically certain that as superintendent (and other administrative) salaries go up, so does per pupil spending. Isn’t that circular reasoning?”
No and no. The superintendent salary of $198k in a $150MM+ budget is about 0.1% of the total budget. Either EVERYTHING must go up 35% more than inflation, or some really big ticket items must go up much faster so as to get the 35% average. (You could increase the superintendent’s salary by 10X and keep all other salaries the same and the per pupil spending would not increase faster than inflation.)
As stated before – we ARE spending more on education. Knowingly so. Approvingly so. It’s no surprise that the superintendent’s salary would increase in a similar manner. It’s not out of whack as you imply.
Your argument seems to be simply that $198k is too much. What about $150k? How about $100k? What’s the basis for your argument? Simply that it’s more than Strand’s salary? Or some dude from Fresno?
The D150 budget and City of Peoria budget are pretty similar in size, no? And the compensation of the leaders – pretty similar, too, no? And I’ve already pointed out how it’s comparable to other, similar, central Illinois school districts.
“But who is the superintendent educating, exactly?” Really? The superintendent has the responsibility for ALL of the students in the district.
I would truly love to follow Dr. Lathan and all the administrative staff around to find out what they really do all day. I am willing to bet we would be amazed about the amount of time wasted.
I am beginning to think that the large amounts of money spent in education have little or nothing to do with educating children. C.J., of course, is right that the money should be spent on teachers, especially on educational specialists trained to work with children with developmental problems. I think if we took a good look at how the money has been spent in the last 10 years, we would see that much of it has little or nothing to do with the actual teaching of kids. I am currently looking at FOIA’d data listing all the conferences and workshops that teachers and administrators attended last year–I’ve tallied a little more than half and have already reached $230,000 spent on trips. Does anyone will believe these 1 to 3-day conferences are really going to have that much impact on what happens in the classroom? These workshops and conferences do not require any accountability.
That’s just one way money is wasted. Computers (technology of all sorts) has led to the purchase of all sorts of programs, etc., that are not utilized enough to justify the cost.
Jon, how naive to say the superintendent has the responsibility of educating all the students in the district! I taught for 43 years and was never exactly sure of what the superintendents were doing. I would think that if their jobs were that indispensable to teaching that the classroom teacher would be able to have some perception of the superintendents’ contribution.
Jon, your argument appears to be:
(a) the school districts’ expenses are going up,
(b) the increased spending is all good,
(c) the increased spending meets with approval from the community, and
(d) the superintendent’s pay should increase proportionately with overall expenses.
I would concede (a), but not the rest of your argument.
Jon says, “Your argument seems to be simply that $198k is too much. What about $150k? How about $100k? What’s the basis for your argument? Simply that it’s more than Strand’s salary? Or some dude from Fresno?”
Is that what I said? Let me see…. Nope. It looks like I said my concern was that “superintendent salaries are not tied to any objective measure, such as enrollment or community size. Might it be better public policy if they were?” But to answer your question directly, I don’t know what the “right” amount is. But we all draw a line somewhere. Would you agree that $100 million is too high of a salary for a superintendent? What about $1 million? $500k? Where do you draw your line, and why?
My guess is that you would say the superintendent’s salary should be comparable to other central Illinois school districts and municipal organizations of roughly the same size. And of course, municipal bodies set their salary scales just exactly through just this kind of benchmarking, so it’s no surprise that these salaries are comparable in actuality. But why is that the standard? Is that a good standard? Is it in the best interests of the community? Can that standard lead to artificial salary inflation? Can you think of ways that standard might be abused?
Why not tie public sector salaries to something more objective, such as the median household income for the community being served? Or, as stated previously, enrollment or community size? Might that not be fairer to taxpayers? Why not question the status quo? Why automatically defend it?
Sharon:
If you taught in the public schools for 43 years and still didn’t know what the Superintendent’s job duties were, I think that says a lot more about you than it does any Superintendent.
You may not agree that the actions / programs / initiatives overseen by the Superintendent are appropriate but to classify the position as a whole as useless is amazingly and extraordinarily simplistic. Your true colors and showing and its clear you have no respect and give no value to those in managerial positions.
Name one organization with a budget in the hundreds of millions that doesn’t have a Chief Executive Officer leading the organization? Dr. Latham’s job is not to directly educate the students (that’s the teachers job) – hers is to make sure that the District has the right teachers, resources and approaches to educate students and that teacher performance is focused on education.
Don’t get me started on educational conferences. It’s easy to say they are a waste of money (and select individual ones may be)…but in general if you’re not investing in the continued education of your staff, a disservice is being done to the students.
Peo_Proud, well said.
Peoria Proud, what exactly does “showing your true colors mean”? I still believe that teachers aren’t that aware of what superintendents do. The superintendents are seldom seen after that first day of the year meeting and/or the institute that used to take place before Thanksgiving. I can count on both hands the number of times I had any direct contact with a superintendent. I did, however, have more contact with curriculum directors, etc. I didn’t mean to imply that superintendents are useless, just that, in a district the size of Peoria, they might not need to command such high salaries. I still think my idea about retired educators from the area is not a bad idea.
You and everyone at the helm in District 150 seem to forget that teachers go back to college far more often than do people in other professions. Perhaps instead of going to so many workshops and conferences (to which relatively few teachers actually go), the district should work with colleges to insure that relevant courses are offered. Workshops might get teachers hyped but the information is seldom retained or used. Course work requires more involvement by teachers. In the age of computers, more online courses could be required, etc.
In looking over the titles of workshops and conferences attended this year, I notice that many are related to problems of student behaviors and not so much to subject matter.
The most important role of a superintendent is to choose the experts to head the various departments. In addition to having very expensive superintendents, the District has gradually added more and more expensive “middle management” positions. All in all, not just the superintendent but administrative positions have become a huge part of the District’s budget.
Most teachers have little use for administrators. I always found that petty and simplistic.
District 150 Observor, There are administrators for whom I had and have great respect. I still believe that NCLB has created this tension between administrators and teachers–certainly it is a tension that I never experienced before the unrealistic pressures of NCLB permeated all of education. All educators and administrators are facing problems today that just didn’t exist 40 years ago. Because so many of these problems can’t be solved by schools, the blame game will continue until everyone acknowledges that fact. You should have known me in the 60s and 70s and early 80s–I didn’t even belong to the union–that’s how happy (maybe even naive) I was with the educational environment in District 150.
I can’t believe the cost per student in Peoria. My daughter goes to private school and her tuition is about $3,100 for the year. Class sizes are small, the building is nice, and she seems to be learning. I know the costs are higher, obviously, in Dist 150 but why does it cost $8,000 more a year?
I don’t think ANYONE in D150 should be paid more than $120K plus benefits.
Get out of D150 and the COP if you can…
Trivia question for everyone……
Where do you find more North Carolinian’s employed by a school district?
A. North Carolina
B. Peoria District 150
Okay okay I know that I may have exaggerated a bit but we are getting there. 🙂
Hey, Pugsly: Are you out of Peoria and D150? If so, good. Keep moving further and further away as you find things you you don’t like. If you HAVEN’T left Peoria, don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Jackass.
Eleven of sixteen speakers who were paid to conduct workshops in Peoria this year were from North Carolina–per FOIA’d data.
As a long time D150 teacher, I have NO IDEA what I am supposed to be using to teach reading and math, other than I am told that I MUST spend 90 minutes a day on EACH. Every teacher I have spoken with feels the same way. We have NO reading curriculum except a hodgepodge of different books and “stuff”. It is so confusing that I (a veteran teacher) have NO IDEA how to write a lesson plan for this “mess”. The administration gave us a “pacing guide” on what to teach and when, but did not give us the materials to implement it. I guess they used the money to purchase a reading curriculum on “speakers” from N. Carolina….go figure!
Maybe we should be concerned less on how much employees are being paid and concentrate first on making sure we can pay them. Alot of teachers did not get paid on time or correctly today. But Superintendent Diva sure deserves a bonus!!!!!! (Sarcasm is intended). We sure are all about customer service in Peoria aren’t we Grenade…. I mean Grenita. Kaboom!!!!!
$192,000 went for instructional materials much of which were purchased from Thinking Maps, Inc., a company from guess where? Yes, North Carolina.
I think District 150 is doing everything in its power to withhold information about Dr. Owen Roberts (who did the 150 Audit at no cost), his connection to Houghton Mifflen, and a huge contract for Houghton Mifflen social studies and science textbooks. Does anyone happen to know the titles of any of these books?
Heard new science textbooks are on the way.
Hey, BILLY – Why are you so bitter? You’ve got absolutely nothing to say, but insults? Wow! It must suck to be you.
Get out of the COP and D150 if you can…except BILLY!
My argument is:
(a) the school districts’ expenses are going up,
(b) the increased spending is GENERALLY good,
(c) the increased spending HAS BEEN approved by the community (via their elected officials)
(d) IT’S UNDERSTANDABLE THAT the superintendent’s pay has increased proportionately with overall expenses.
Here’s some quotes of what you said regarding the superintendent’s salary:
“But I am questioning whether $198,000 is too high, given the size of our school district.” (This, after comparing it to the superintendent from Fresno)
“So we have a situation where the superintendent’s salary has gone up over 37% in constant dollars, but enrollment has declined about 19%. Something is wrong with this picture.” (This, after comparing it to Strand’s salary).
So yeah, I think it perfectly reasonable for me to suggest “Your argument seems to be simply that $198k is too much. What about $150k? How about $100k? What’s the basis for your argument? Simply that it’s more than Strand’s salary? Or some dude from Fresno?”
CJ said “Why not tie public sector salaries to something more objective, such as the median household income for the community being served?” You would end up with greater disparity than you have now. The harder jobs are generally in the poorer districts. Federal and State funding help to alleviate that problem, but it’s not enough.
CJ said “Why not question the status quo?” I have no problem with your questioning the status quo. I am arguing that your examples, seemingly to prove Lathan’s salary is too much, are inadequate – they’re not up to your usual standards.
Jon — I already explained the basis for my argument, which is even clear from the two statements you quoted. “But I am questioning whether $198,000 is too high, given the size of our school district.” “So we have a situation where the superintendent’s salary has gone up over 37% in constant dollars, but enrollment has declined about 19%.” Again, I’m questioning the disconnect of the salary level from any objective measure.
I’m sorry that my arguments have disappointed you. I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
C.J. is right, and there is another observation to be made. I believe that much of what was once part of a superintendent’s direct responsibility has actually decreased while the salary has increased over the last 30 years. I think we should compare the current cost of the superintendent AND her cabinet (all the middle management) with the same costs over the last 30 years. I contend that more people at higher salaries are now doing what used to be the sole responsibility of the superintendent and/or that not only has the superintendent’s salary increased but so have the salaries of the superintendent’s “cabinet.” The whole administrative package is much more expensive today.
I get that you’re basing it on the lack of an objective measure, though I think you would agree that you are implicitly arguing the salary is too high (not solely lacking an objective measure). I think there are very few jobs whose salaries ARE based on an objective measure – it’s contrary to individualism as well as a freely adaptive marketplace. I would think a presumed libertarian like yourself would be aghast at suggesting more “regulations” over such employment activities 🙂
And, Sharon…”I believe that much of what was once part of a superintendent’s direct responsibility has actually decreased while the salary has increased over the last 30 years.” But first you said “I taught for 43 years and was never exactly sure of what the superintendents were doing.”
So…you don’t know what the duties are….but you believe they’ve decreased…I don’t think you’ve got a lot of credibility on that topic.
@ CJ, Sharon, et al- Our Superintendent has constantly preached customer service and how everyone that works in the district now has to wear many hats. I think that is very interesting since we do not have all teh textbooks we need for the students and even yet for the teachers. Again many teachers did not get paid on time!!!!! She has yet to be visible in classrooms that are to hot to teach or in hallways where students acting like well definitely not the model citizens we want them to be. But yes she deserves her pay and bonus doesn’t she??????? Central NC Admin and School Board need to get a clue anything they do is not for the greater good for all the children but more to fill some self-serving agenda. Oh I forgot nice window air units at Woodruff. Let’s cut our losses and pay this group of NC carpetbaggers to leave so we can get this ship back on course before it totally blows up from overheating. We know we are going to have to pay them off some time so let’s just get it over with already!!!!
The principals are also terrified by Lathan. She has her spies all over the schools just waiting for someone to do something she doesn’t like then, BAM…..you’re fired or better yet….back to the classroom. I think we could put her and her crews knowledge of educational instruction in a thimble. I have NEVER had such a disorganized year (not on my part). I am SO in-serviced and meetinged out. Can I just TEACH?
Teach – As a parent, I can attest to the disorganization.
1. Master schedule was not available until a couple of days before school and so counselors could not finalize schedules and so many students did not have a finalized schedule on the 1st day of school.
2. Textbooks not available for a number of my classes.
3. School planners the student’s are to use not coming in until mid-September.
Not being able to raise reading scores or completely control student behavior I get, but not being organized on basic school matters like books and schedules — cannot understand.
That being said, my student reports all her teachers are organized and prepared, the counselor we worked with was a dream, and the principal contacted us because one of my child’s classes was not what was selected but was the only thing that fit in a otherwise desired schedule of classes.
My impression is that that there are a lot of employees on the ground that do their best despite the dis-functional system they work within.
This Superintendent is one of the most spiteful and petty administrators I have ever come across. If teachers didn’t get paid it is probably because of something Grenada did to upset staff. Anything going wrong in District 150 is directly attributable to Grenada going off and upsetting staff. The fake forced smile is thinly veiled insecurity and it’s slipping. She needs a mentor to help her with her people skills. If the school board is on board with this wig wearing weight throwing tyrant they need to be removed. They have made so many bad decisions they are clearly incompetant. Closing schools, opening schools, charter schools, shopping trips. The people from NC thinK people in Peoria are stupid. The longer we let this go on, we prove their point. The school board needs to be removed they are failing miserably.
Sign the Petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/remove-district-150-school-board/
A petition huh, really?
I guess that would be one way to send a message to the BOE.
When the Supt. walked into our building, the Principal immediately put on a huge (fake) smile and so did all the teachers. I have NEVER worked in a situation where there are NO textbooks….Reading, Math, and Social Studies for the students. Are we supposed to pull lessons out of thin air to teach our students? Remember, the new evaluation system holds all teachers accountable for student learning. Maybe the Supt. is not providing us with materials so she can more easily FIRE anyone she deems not a good fit!
Teach, so am I to assume that the new social studies and science books haven’t arrived yet?