School payroll listings totaling a little over $2 billion for 29 Kansas districts are available for download at KansasOpenGov.org and include 679 employees who were paid more than $100,000 during the 2019 school year.
The school payroll listingss posted on KansasOpenGov.org are generally among the largest in Kansas and collectively represent 49% of total enrollment. Kansas Policy Institute collects the data annually in Open Records requests. Six new districts are included this year – Auburn-Washburn, De Soto, Gardner-Edgerton, Geary County, Goddard, and Maize. USD 231 Gardner-Edgerton initially refused to comply with the Open Records request, but the Johnson County District Attorney ordered the district to comply after KPI filed an Open Records complaint.
Johnson County districts dominate the list of highest-paid employees, with 15 of the 25 slots. USD 512 Shawnee Mission has six slots, USD 229 Blue Valley had five of the highest paid, USD 233 Olathe has two slots, and USD 231 Gardner-Edgerton and USD 232 De Soto each have one. Johnson County also has the only three employees paid more than $300,000 – the superintendents in Olathe, Blue Valley, and Shawnee Mission.
It’s also noteworthy that Shawnee Mission spent $894,000 on four deputy/assistant superintendents.
Eleven of those paid over $100,000 are teachers, including six from USD 229 Blue Valley; four of them teach physical education, one is a business teacher, and one teaches art. USD 261 Haysville and USD 260 Derby each have teachers above $100,000, and USD 259 Wichita has one.
