Kent Education Association

Not enough teachers, too many administrators

Ever wonder why so many administrators are telling the community that Kent can’t afford more teachers?

It’s because the Kent School District has so many administrators.

Under the Kent School Board’s misguided priorities, Kent has dropped to the bottom of the barrel in the percent of the district’s budget spent in the classroom. But the percentage of the budget spent on administrators ranks at the top of comparable districts.

Now the district is fighting to make our current problems even worse. The School Board’s bargaining team has proposed making it easier to lay off more teachers, even during good economic times, and doing away with common-sense safeguards that would make classrooms and students a priority. The district is demanding to eliminate current requirements to use reserve funds, reduce the number of excess administrators and cut travel budgets before laying off teachers. The district even wants to take away the current safeguard that they shouldn’t lay off more teachers than is necessary financially.

The Kent School Board’s priorities have gone off track. Class sizes are already too big, and the district has laid off teachers at the same time it’s spending tens of thousands of dollars for consultants, mailing, printing and PR to imply that teachers are greedy.

Teachers’ pay at the bottom, administrators’ salaries at the top

While Kent teachers are calling for smaller class sizes and more time to work with students, pay has emerged as an issue here simply because of how far the district has gone out of balance. Kent ranks at the absolute bottom for pay in the Puget Sound metro area, and 80^th statewide for new teachers. But look at salaries for Kent’s administrators and the trend is just the opposite:

This table shows “annualized” salaries. To make comparisons equal between districts, salaries have been adjusted to represent an average full-time-equivalent administrative position. That’s necessary because administrators work full time in most districts, but in Kent most administrators only work part time, according to state records.

Kent Administrators: Great pay, great perks

Teachers sometimes leave Kent’s classroom for full-time office jobs simply because that’s the only way they can earn more pay. But in Kent, mid- and upper-level administrators can earn $90,000, $100,000, $120,000 or more and -- unlike most other districts, administrators in Kent do not even have to work full time. According to reports the Kent School District submitted to the state, the average Kent administrator works just 84 percent of a full-time position.

Great pay and short hours are not the only perquisites for Kent administrators. Last year, high school principals could earn a top base salary of $125,336, and they also got a $3,000 boost for having a doctorate degree. In contrast, teachers do not get a raise for earning a doctorate degree. Administrators get five weeks’ paid vacation, and can cash out two weeks’ vacation to increase their base salary. But teachers’ school breaks are unpaid, so additional days cannot be converted to cash. Building administrators are granted $1,000 a year for conference travel; teachers are occasionally reimbursed for mileage to a conference but more typically pay their own bills for continuing education and travel. The district will contribute up to $2,400 a year to a principal’s tax-sheltered annuity. The district does not contribute to tax sheltered annuities for teachers.

Watch video: Community leaders upset about the Kent School District’s misplaced priorities turn out to support Kent teachers.

* Data sources: Kent School District S275 personnel reports to state Superintendent of Public Instruction; Kent School District building administrators’ contract.