District Administration - September 2010 - (Page 33)

Top administrators don’t see the kind of salary increases they did just a year ago. compared to 2008-2009. However, the same group saw a 4.9 percent increase in salary in 2008-2009 over 2007-2008. In fact, superintendents saw percentage increases in salary every year from 20042005 until 2008-2009, when increases dipped to only 4.9 percent over the previous year. “We expected to see a drop, and I was even expecting the percentage increases to be a little lower [or bigger drop] because of the economy [and media reports], but that’s not scientiﬁc at all,” says Christopher Licciardi, an issues analyst in the survey research department at Educational Research Service. “We do research to help districts plan their budgets in future years.” In his department, Licciardi says, ERS analysts received many calls this past year from administrators asking how they could work more efﬁciently and whether consolidation would help to reduce the rate of cost increases. Thus, schools wanted to decrease their costs, he says. Licciardi adds that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the dip in the stock market in 2003-2004 also affected salaries. From 2000-2001 until 2004-2005, superintendents saw a bit of a roller coaster ride in percentage increases in salary. Superintendents in the 2003-2004 year even saw a dip, as salaries decreased by 0.5 percent compared to the previous year. In another example, business and ﬁnance directors, on average, saw a 1.7 percent increase in salary this year over last year, but had seen a 2.2 percent increase in salary in 2008-2009 over 20072008. But business directors have seen a roller coaster in percentage increases over the years since 2000-2001. Even instructional services directors saw a 1.6 percent salary increase on average over last year compared to a 2.6 percent salary increase from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009. They saw the same roller coaster ride in percentage increases since 2000-2001 and saw a dip in 20012002 as their salaries decreased by 0.4 percent compared to the previous year. Interestingly, technology directors saw a larger percentage increase in salary over the last year. This year, their percentage increase was 3 percent, compared to only 2.1 percent from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009. Licciardi says this could be due to the increased focus on technology in schools and the increasingly competitive market for technology directors. Guidance counselors and librarians also earned a slightly higher percentage increase in 2009-2010 compared to last year. A 2.6 percent increase in average salaries was reported for librarians this year over last year, as compared to a 1.8 percent increase in 2008-2009 over 2007-2008. Again, both positions have seen a roller coaster ride in percentage increases since 2000-2001. —Angela Pascopella Percentage of Change in Average Salaries and Wages Paid The percentage increase in salaries for school administrators has varied over the past 10 years with changes in the economy, but top administrators have seen a considerably reduced percentage salary increase since the 2005-2006 school year. 2002-03 over 2001-02 3.7% 4.3% 2.1% 2.7% 1.6% 1.3% 3.4% 1.8% 2003-04 over 2002-03 -0.5% 1.5% 2.2% 0.3% 1.0% 3.0% 1.2% 1.6% 2004-05 over 2003-04 2.5% 2.1% 2.4% 4.8% 1.7% 0.2% 0.4% 0.6% 2005-06 over 2004-05 4.4% 5.1% 3.2% 2.4% 3.2% 2.5% 2.4% 5.1% 2006-07 over 2005-06 5.0% 5.1% 5.1% 4.3% 6.2% 4.5% 4.1% 2.9% 2007-08 over 2006-07 5.1% 4.6% 4.3% 5.0% 5.2% 5.2% 3.0% 3.7% 2008-09 over 2007-08 4.9% 1.9% 2.5% 2.6% 2.2% 2.1% 2.0% 1.8% 2009-10 over 2008-09 2.6% 1.9% 3.1% 1.6% 1.7% 3.0% 2.3% 2.6% 2009-10 over 1999-2000 42.3% 43.4% 38.9% 31/6% 36.5% No Data 24.8% 27.3% Data reﬂect the mean of average salaries paid by public school systems in Educational Research Service’s 37th national survey of salaries and wages in public schools, “Salaries and Wages Paid Professional and Support Personnel in Public Schools, 2009-2010.” Copyright © by Educational Research Service. All rights reserved. Used with permission. www.DistrictAdministration.com September 2010 33 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2010

District Administration - September 2010
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Inside the Law
Conversations
District Profile
Administrator Profile
A Salary Recession for School Administrators?
Working Hard in the Big Easy
School Safety Gets the Ax
Keeping Schools Safe during Challenging times
Google and Microsoft Go to School
A Bull Market for Financial Literacy
Problem/ Solution
Tech Disruptions
Student Counsel
Product Focus
New Products
Superintendent’s Insights

District Administration - September 2010