100 Worcester Teachers and Admin Earn More Than $100K
Monday, April 02, 2012
School administrators occupy 110 of the top 250 best paid jobs on the city’s payroll, according to stats reviewed by GoLocalWorcester, making up 44 percent of the total.
That’s up from 100 in 2010, even as city schools have had to cut dozens of jobs over the past two years.
Faced with these rising costs, one school committee member contends it may be time for some belt tightening.
“Do we need all these positions?” asked Brian O’Connell, a school committee member. “Are they more important than placing these dollars in the classroom with our instructional staff?”
More than 100 six-figure salaries
All told, 104 of the 110 school district employees on the top 250 list make over six figures, with many clustered in the $120,000's and up, according to the city’s 2011 payroll.
Superintendent Melinda Boone tops the list, bringing in $186,000, followed by school financial chief Brian Allen at $146,488 and the district’s chief academic officer at $143,487. Click here to see the top paid school employees: Download PDF
Boone is second only to Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme in pay, while edging out City Manager Michael O’Brien, who holds the No. 3 spot. Gemme pulled down $196,016, while O’Brien pulled in $182,062 last year.
The overwhelming majority of school employees on the list of top paid employees are administrators and principals, with just a handful of teachers thrown in.
Meanwhile, the increase Worcester principals and district administrators is being driven by the fact that school officials continue to pick up raises, even as other city workers endure pay freezes.
School board members have opted to give administrators raises to match pay increases teachers have continued to pick up, O’Connell said.
But other city employees have gone without increases, leading to a drop in their numbers on the list of Worcester’s top paid public employees.
Police officers saw their numbers on the best-paid list drop to 36 percent, while firefighters now account for just 10 percent, down from 13 percent in 2010.
“I know the city has not taken cost of living increases for several years,” City Councilor Konstantina Lukes said.
Should money go to classrooms?
O’Connell contends it may be time to rethink the school department’s more generous policies when it comes to pay increases.
He said he has long been concerned about the rising cost of the city’s school bureaucracy.
Along with rising individual salaries, overall administrative costs for Worcester schools have also been on the increase.
School administration costs have jumped by more than $240,000 over the past two years, to $10.7 million, school budget numbers show.
But other parts of the city’s school system have faced cuts. Heading into the current school year, plans were announced to cut 65 employees in order to close a $7 million budget.
The year before school officials announced plans to eliminate 140 jobs to close a $17 million budget gap.
O’Connell said he is concerned that money that could be going to classrooms may instead be going to school administrators.
“In tough economic times we should focus our dollars as far as possible in the classrooms and in instruction rather than in administrative positions,” he said.
School department fires back
Allen, the school district’s financial chief, questioned the numbers.
He also pointed out that there are 2 ½ times the number of teachers, administrators and other school employees as there are other city employees.
Boone, the city’s superintendent, could not be reached for comment.
But she defended classroom cuts in an introduction to this fiscal year’s budget, arguing she was forced to make hard decisions on whether to place scarce dollars.
“There are no “good” choices There are not “good” choices when having to balance a budget projected with a nearly $7 million deficit,” Boone wrote. “We continue to restructure and reallocate resources to preserve or core service delivery to students.”
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