Miller Place School District Administration – Please Lead By Example

In my , I showed how the MPTA could help solve the budget crisis by coming back to the table and renegotiating their contract. I chose to focus on teacher salaries in that post because the $24,000,000 budget line item that is teacher base salaries is the biggest slice of the budget pie. When trying to find savings, it makes sense to look at the largest budget items first.

Of course, it is unfair to place the entire burden on solving our budget crisis on MPTA when there are savings to be found in other areas. One of those areas is Central Administration. Although a much smaller part of the budget, these are our district leaders and great leaders will lead by example. If the Superintendent’s proposed budget decimates programs and course electives and results in the loss of 22.5 of our hard-working teaching professionals, surely our leaders can shoulder some of that burden. Sadly, the proposed budget includes NO cuts whatsoever in Administrative expenditures. After viewing the data highlighted in this post, I think it will be clear to all what needs to happen.

The base salary data below comes from Freedom of Information Laws (FOIL) requests which have been confirmed by the previous Board of Education. (If more accurate values are available, please let me know and provide verification.)

The SeethruNY values are from the online database available at http://www.seethroughny.net. SeethroughNY.net values include end-of-year payments such as stipends, longevity pay, vacation buy backs, automobile allowances, etc. that add to the base salary value so the SeeThru numbers shown below will be different than those obtained via FOIL. Even so, there are some discrepancies that cause me to be somewhat suspicious of SeeThroughNY’s numbers. When I contacted Seethroughny.net they replied but were unable to itemize their numbers in order for me to determine their authenticity. I included SeethroughNY values because that is the easiest way for Miller Place residents to locate salary information and these values are being discussed in the community. One thing that is clear: raises reported by SeethroughNY are significantly  greater than base salary increases. *IF* these values are correct, then the hidden income increases are far outpacing base salary raises. We need to find out what the truth is here.

Note: Any negative values appearing in the tables below are the result of changes in personnel and/or changes in job descriptions.

SUPERINTENDENT

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

Salary

172,000

168,000

176,400

185,220

200,000

200,000

200,000

Change

-4,000

(-2.3%)

8,400

(+5%)

8,820

(+5%)

14,780

(+8%)

0

0

Total 6yr Increase

18,000

(+10.5%)

SeeThruNY

166,143

197,727

227,727

Change

31,584

(+19%)

30,000

(+15%)

Annual CPI

2.5%

5.1%

-1.1%

1.5%

3.3%

DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

Salary

159,230

166,048

172,690

179,598

188,578

198,007

207,907

Change

6,818

(+4.3%)

6,642

(+4%)

6,908

(+4%)

8,980

(+5%)

9,429

(+5%)

9,900

(+5%)

Total 6yr Increase

48,677

(+31%)

SeeThruNY

200,550

225,647

237,860

Change

25,097

(+12.5%)

12,213

(+5.4%)

Annual CPI

2.5%

5.1%

-1.1%

1.5%

3.3%

ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

Salary

149,940

132,000

138,600

145,531

152,806

160,447

160,447

Change

-17,940

(-12%)

6,600

(+5%)

6,931

(+5%)

7275

(+5%)

7641

(+5%)

0

Total 6yr Increase

10,507

(+7%)

SeeThruNY

150,637

158,794

180,115

Change

8,157

(+5.4%)

21,321

(+13%)

Annual CPI

2.5%

5.1%

-1.1%

1.5%

3.3%

ADMINISTRATOR FOR PUPIL PERSONNEL SERVICE

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

Salary

121,287

126,138

125,000

134,000

147,000

145,625

150,721

Change

4,851

(+4%)

-1,138

(-.9%)

9,000

(+7.2%)

13,000

(+10%)

-1375

(-.9%)

5,096

(+3.5%)

Total 6yr Increase

29,434

(+24%)

SeeThruNY

145,462

152,577

164,958

Change

7,115

(+4.9%)

12,381

(+8.1%)

Annual CPI

2.5%

5.1%

-1.1%

1.5%

3.3%

ASSISTANT TO THE ADMINISTRATOR FOR PUPIL PERSONNEL SERVICE

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

Salary

89,872

98,580

99,751

104,739

109,975

115,000

119,205

Change

8,708

(+9.7%)

1,171

(+1.1%)

4,988

(+5%)

5,236

(+5%)

5,025

(+4.6%)

4,205

(+3.7%)

Total 6yr Increase

29,333

(+33%)

SeeThruNY

108,895

110,076

121,818

Change

1,181

(+1%)

11,742

(+10.7%)

Annual CPI

2.5%

5.1%

-1.1%

1.5%

3.3%

ADMINISTRATOR FOR INSTRUCTION & DATA REPORTING

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

Salary

119,650

126,231

132,543

99,073

129,375

133,903

Change

6,581

(+5.5%)

6,312

(+5%)

-33470

(-25%)

30,302

(+23%)

4528

(+3.5%)

Total 5yr Increase

14,253

(+12%)

SeeThruNY

116,028

126,529

137,764

Change

10,501

(+9%)

11,235

(+9%)

Annual CPI

2.5%

5.1%

-1.1%

1.5%

3.3%

ADMINISTRATOR FOR ATHLETICS, PHYSICAL EDUCATION, HEALTH & IM

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

Salary

108,742

113,092

125,047

131,299

137,864

144,757

152,000

Change

4,350

(+4%)

11,955

(+10.6%)

6,252

(+5%)

6,565

(+5%)

6,893

(+5%)

7,243

(+5%)

Total 6yr Increase

43,258

(+40%)

SeeThruNY

135,991

147,597

155,910

Change

11,606

(+8.55)

8,313

(+5.6%)

Annual CPI

2.5%

5.1%

-1.1%

1.5%

3.3%

• Total salary increase in the Superintendent office since 2005-2006 is +8.5% which seems reasonable.
• The Central Administration Business Office salary costs to the district have increased 51% over the past six years.
• The Deputy Superintendent salary has increased 31% over the past six years – far outpacing CPI increases.
• The Assistant to the Administrator For Pupil Personnel Service has increased salary by 33% over the past six years – far outpacing CPI increases.
• Total increases in Special Education Department salaries since 2005-2006 is +35%.
• The Administrator for PE, Health, Athletics & Intramurals salary has increased 40% over the past six years – far outpacing CPI increases.
• Total increases in the salaries of this department (Athletics) since 2005-2006 is +36%.

Here are the questions I think we need to be asking:

1. Why must FOIL requests be needed to obtain contract information for district positions? Miller Place residents pay these bills and we vote on the budget. How are we to make informed choices if we are not informed? The BOE should require this information to be easily accessed on the district home page.
2. Why are the SeeThroughNY.net values so different? Are the accurate? If so, why are these values increasing much more rapidly than salary increases? What goes into the “hidden increases”? If not, please provide the accurate information on the FAQ (or somewhere easily accessible) and also send it to SeeThroughNY.net.
3. Why have some administrative positions increased salary at many times the cost of living? How was the district administration able to run the schools at much lower costs in previous years? What has changed that requires key personnel to take huge raises, especially in these poor economic times when many are just happy to have a job at all?
4. Why have the Business, Athletics, and Special Education office salaries increased so much while others have increased only a little?
5.  Given the proposed cuts in middle school athletics, why was there no cut for the Athletic Office salaries in the current proposed budget? Surely there will be less responsibility with no middle school sports.
6. How can this Administration, which has enjoyed large raises and increases in the size of their department salaries, propose a budget that increases our taxes while decimating school programs, course electives, and middle school sports?
7. How can this Administration, which has enjoyed large raises and increases in the size of their department salaries, propose a budget that will lay off 22.5 of our hard-working teaching professionals?
8. Why did some previous BOE members allow this to keep happening? Keep that in mind the next time any of these individuals are running for a BOE seat.

At the Wednesday March 21 BOE Budget meeting, I think residents need to stand up and ask these questions. Keep in mind that the BOE has the final responsibility to keep costs in check so ultimately the BOE is responsible for these huge salary increases.

I doubt that the BOE will be able to find all of the $2.3 million needed to avoid the cuts in programs, electives, sports, and teachers in the Administration line of the budget but it looks like it might be a great place to start looking.

Central Office needs to come back to the table with salary solutions to lead by example.