This is Part II of our series highlighting the different ways in which school districts prioritize resources toward pay raises, staffing, and other expenditures. These decisions prove particularly interesting in light of debates over the availability of funds and whether money is spent efficiently and in students’ best interests. As we found last week with another ten school districts, this group of ten districts showed some large pay increases, some small, and a few essentially unchanged.
Andover Superintendent Gregory Rasmussen of Andover was the highest paid employee among these ten districts, and Thomas Snodgrass of Derby enjoyed the largest salary increase by percentage (36.6%) that was not accompanied by a position change. Craig Correll of Coffeyville received a larger salary increase by percentage (40.7%) but was promoted to Superintendent after serving as Assistant Superintendent last year. Craig Wilford of Derby was the only top earner to experience a slight decline (-2.7%) in salary from 2015 to 2016.
Derby and Salina tied for the highest number of employees (6) appearing on the top 25 earners list. Andover had the next highest number of top earners with 5. Neither Colby nor Iola had anyone make the list.
Beyond individual salaries, the next table below looks at 5-year changes in allocations to various salary categories. Emporia offers the most interesting trend, with a large spike in Superintendent Pay, a modest spike in “Next 25 Highest Paid,” but yet a decline in “Total Pay” as well as that of “Remaining Staff.” Colby and Coffeyville also follow suit with large hikes in Superintendent Pay that far outpace their changes in any other category.
In terms of staffing trends, school districts in this batch show a common penchant for adding managers at a high rate. Colby and Coffeyville had double-digit growth in managers even as enrollment declined. Salina saw its managerial staff grow by almost 40% while enrollment essentially remained flat.
Complete 2016 payroll listings for all districts we track are available here, with updates made daily and nearing completion.
