Reader Comments on "Are We Spending Enough on Education?"

Reader Michael from Northglen, Colorado chimed in on my article Is the US Spending Enough on Education?

Michael writes ....

Hello Mish

I went through one of numerous searchable databases put together by Natalie Menton to see where Jefferson County, Colorado is spending money on education.

I ran some searches and discovered that of the more than 100 highest paid employees in the district none of them is in a classroom, and all of them are making more than $100k.

Many of the titles are mystifying. Even if I presume these people are very good at whatever it is that they do, I'm hard-pressed to believe that the people of Jefferson County are getting their $11 million worth of service per year.

Allow me to cite some interesting examples from the 2010 school year.

The 102 highest salaries in the district were all paid more than $100,000 per year. That  works out to about $11.4 million every year. There were no fewer than fifteen senior principals with salaries ranging from $101,367 to $126,768.

Why does a school district need to compensate an Executive Director for Public Engage/Communications to the tune of more than $119,000? I have the same questions about Executive Directors of/for School Management, four of which make between $105,000 and $121,000 each.

I'm no less curious about the four "Community Superintendents" ranging from $121,000 to $130,000 each. Of course, those are just base salaries that do not include benefits or pensions.

Lastly, let's turn our attention to the Superintendent of Schools, who we are told is underpaid at a salary of over $200,000.

For comparison purposes, Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State of the United States of America, has national security responsibilities. Love her or hate her, she is responsible for representing this country to every other sovereign nation on the planet. Hillary makes $186,000.

Last fall, during the general election, Jefferson County managed to get Ballot Questions 3A and 3B passed following a fearmongering campaign. Taxes went up. So where did the money go?

Just thought I'd share those bits and bytes with you, not that they'll come as any surprise.

Cheers,

Michael
Northglenn, CO