There are two schools of thought when it comes to paying school administrators: those who believe the people responsible for educating our youth are worth every penny, and those who believe educators are highly overpaid.
In Naperville, salary increases this time around are 3.75 percent for top administrators in District 203, and 3 to 4 percent in District 204. The superintendents will make $196K in 203 and $225K in 204. Other top 10 administrators will earn between $120,000 and $150,000 each.
These are base salaries and do not include the costs of benefits like health care or pensions.
We say: It's good work if you can get it. Quality people are needed to maintain the excellence in Naperville schools. The raises are fair, but overall we'd like to see the state Legislature address some of the loopholes that lead to lucrative retirement packages for school administrators.
What do you think? Are administrator salaries a fair shake or a raw deal for taxpayers?
The Alternative Minimum Tax draconian burden on the property owner needs to be addressed by our State and Local government officials. For many homeowners in Naperville, property taxes are no longer deductible. The very generous government pensions and raises (which are compounded) are breaking the homeowners backs. For those that are retired, living in small homes, the property tax will be equal to their Social Security.
Our officials need to put pressure on the Federal Legislature to repeal the AMT. The various boards also need to consider giving wage increases in the form of annual bonuses that will prevent the compounding of salary increases into the stratosphere.
...Meanwhile, how much are the teachers actually getting paid?
That's bull. I'm fittin to make $19,000 this year and I've got to clean their bathrooms at the school. That's a harder job than whatever the bosses do. Try windexxing spit off windaws.
If the raises actually went to the teachers, I would be behind it 100%. You could get many, many, qualified administrators for probably 30% less salary (at least). The next time the board needs to fill a position, they should just run an add and fill it just like they would fill the position for an assistant principal. I'm sure they would get thousands of qualified applicants, and might introduce some *real* diversity into Naperville schools.
I already think teachers and school administrators are over paid. Teachers/administrators already dictate what days they want off. How many building articulation/institute days do we really need? Isn't it convenient that they always seem to coincide with a holiday? AND, besides getting 3 months off each summer, a week for Easter and two weeks off for Christmas, teachers get too many additional sick days. Getting paid to teach less than half a year is pretty cushy if you ask me.
Then why aren't you a teacher, Diane?
Teachers work, what? 7 months a year and then whine about being underpaid and hold the kids hostage during their strikes? How about working in the REAL world where you actually have to produce and your pay is based on merit, not on how many Mickey Mouse courses you can take at NIU?
Have to admit that being an administrator in 203/204 is great work for former gym teachers though.
As a former teacher, I will say that the majority of the teachers I worked with did not like institute and articulation days because they took away from our number one priority, educating our students. They would rather spend those days in the classroom with their students. I can also attest to the fact that the majority of the teachers I knew spent their summers either taking classes in order to improve their skills, working on committees to improve curriculum, or working in their classrooms to prepare for the next school year. These same teachers left their classrooms every afternoon during the school year with a bag full of papers that needed grading or lessons that needed planning.
Teachers do get 12 sick days a year but most never use all of them. Keep in mind that teachers are constantly exposed to germs and viruses by working with kids, many of whom are sent to school even when they are sick and should be at home.
As far as holding kids hostage for strikes, most teachers don't want to do that either. I was lucky enough never to work for a district that went on strike. I would never be in favor of one. And I am a teacher who does believe there needs to be some form of merit pay for teachers, I just haven't seen any proposal for merit pay that I think could be fair and impartial and based merely on performance. I once worked with a principal who's favorite teacher in the building was not very good at teaching, but boy she knew how to brown nose. That principal was also known for rehiring teachers until they got their tenure and then having them transferred to other schools if they weren't actually that good, making them someone else's problem then.
Most teachers do believe that many of the administrators are overpaid. Especially that ones at the district office.