Jen:
Thanks for the information, Jen. I just want to be on the record that regardless
where Saint Paul Schools falls on the list whether 123rd or 3rd is not ithe issue for
me. The fact that these individuals statewide are making more than the Governor is
apalling. I have no problem in investing in our schools and in the quest for an
excellent education for every child in Minnesota, but I DO believe that ending the
exorbitant compensation packages for the Superintendents in the state and getting them
on a more realistic par with other professionals in the state that do similar jobs in
similar corporate and government agency settings would be an appropriate place to cut
fat.
I think the information you provided is great and if nothing else, tells us that there
are other districts out there spending even more than Saint Paul and Minneapolis
spend. We will never find a funding formula that is fair and meets the disparites
evident in this report. To come up with a fair funding formula, there needs to be
equity and conformity across the state in salaries of teaching staff as well as
administration staff.
I think we would agree that no matter if you have sparcity challenges in greater
Minnesota, or the dense population in the urban centers of educating immigrant
children with language an poverty barriers, they are all barriers nonetheless.
However, if we cannot at least come to some agreement on what the salary of a
professional would be at each level across the board, we will never get to a fair and
equitable formula that takes things that CAN be set in a uniform fashion into account.
Thanks for sharing the information for all, I think it was more enlightening than I
expected. And I think NEAT is on the right track to have discussions that will
illuminate the areas of concern. I would hope that many folks on this list, whether
you have children in school or not at this point will participate in the forum. It
is, after all, your tax dollar, and the price of failure to provide an education to
the future children of our communities and state is a high price indeed.
I hope many will attend.
Pamela Ellison
Como Park
Saint Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: [StPaul] Pay for street lights???
Hi Pam,
I actually looked into Supt salary question last spring during the budget
discussion. At the time we posted the following:
With respect to Superintendent compensation, the Office of the State Auditor
released a Special Study on School Superintendent Compensation in September 2003. The
study's call for transparency is well-taken. The most useful detail is in Appendix 9
(page 79). A "quick take" shows Saint Paul ranked third behind Minnetonka and
Minneapolis in Total Superintendent Compensation for Metropolitan Superintendents for
FY02. - chart -
We also found a February 25, 2004, State Auditor's report: "Financial Trends of
Minnesota School Districts" Saint Paul Public Schools ranked at 123 out of 168
Minnesota districts with over 1,000 students on "District and School Administration
Expenditures," despite being the second largest district in the state.
From the report:
a.. That Saint Paul ranked 123 out of 168 districts on "District and School
Administration Expenditures" suggests that SPPS is doing a good job of containing
central administration costs.
b.. That we rank 4th in "Regular Instruction Expenditures" suggests that we're
focusing our resources on the classroom.
c.. That we rank 1st in "Pupil Support Services Expenditures" raises questions
about what these services provide. Pupil Support Services are defined as
"Expenditures for all noninstructional services provided to students, not including
transportation and food. Includes expenditures for counseling, guidance, health
services, psychological services, and attendance and social work services." (pdf page
117 of the full report)
d.. That we rank 45th in "Transportation Expenditures" despite our magnet schools
suggests the district has done a good job of containing costs to preserve school
choice. Districts 1-44 are a mix of metro area and rural. (pdf pages 122-123)
e.. That we rank 161st in "Other Operating Expenditures" (defined as "property and
liability premiums, principal and interest on noncapital obligations, and nonrecurring
costs such as judgments and liens," (pdf page 134) again suggests sound financial
management.
f.. That we rank 6th in "Total Operating Expenditures" isn't surprising given that
we're the 2nd largest district in the state responsible for 5% of total enrollment.
g.. "Community Service" is defined as "expenditures for recreation, civic
activities, adult education, early childhood education, or similar programs" (pdf page
147). SPPS is ranked 19th, again despite being the 2nd largest district in the state.
h.. What's surprising in "Debt Service Expenditures" (expenditures for repayment
of long-term debt including payments of interest on bonds and capital loans) is not
our rank, but the 161% increase from 1999-2003. Raises questions given the low
interest rates over the past few years.
Superintendent salary is one piece of a much larger discussion about education
funding. NEAT is planning to host a forum in October about Education Funding in
Minnesota. How did we get to where we're at? What's on the horizon for next spring
if the legislature takes no action? (There's no way to know what the legislature's
going to do, but it would be nice to know what we can expect should they do nothing.)
Date to be determined.
Education funding is just one piece of a much larger picture. Former Commissioners
of Finance John Gunyou and Jaye Kiedrowski are calling for structural balance in the
state and federal budgets. Federal Reserve Bank's Art Rolnick is raising awareness
about the cost of cuts to early childhood and child care. Saint Paul based Public
Strategies Group's Peter Hutchinson (also a Former Commissioner of Finance) has
written a book about the Price of Government. Lutheran Social Services and the
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits are raising concerns about cuts to human services.
And our local government units (counties and cities) are struggling to maintain
services.
I'm really bothered by the idea that today we have 3 retirees for every 10 workers.
In 10 years we'll have 10 retirees for every worker. Shouldn't this be the decade
when we're preparing for the retirement of the baby boom? What's going to happen is
we don't figure out how to collectively decide what we want and how we're going to pay
for it? I know there are community-based strategic planning processes for
orchestrating these conversations. How do we get our elected officials to use them?
--Jennifer Armstrong
Payne/Phalen
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