State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement.
Mississippi continues to prioritize spending on
administration over spending inside the classroom according to a new
report released today by State Auditor Shad White.
“As the son of a 35-year public school teacher and
the grandson of two public school teachers, I know it’s important to
focus money on teachers’ salaries and where it matters most—the
classroom,” said Auditor White. “Mississippi must do
better. If we do, our students will thrive. I know it.”
The report shows that between 2006 and 2021, the number of students (average daily attendance) in Mississippi K-12 schools dropped by approximately 60,000. During that same time, administrative spending increased, even when adjusted for inflation. Administrative spending in Mississippi grew by 6.51% while inside-the-classroom spending dropped by 7.76%.
Mississippi also continues to spend a greater
portion of its education budget on administration than any other state
in the South, except for the District of Columbia.
“Every parent knows that money spent on their child’s teacher and in their child’s classroom is what counts,” said White.
If Mississippi spent as high of a percentage of its
education budget inside the classroom as the national average, it would
have sent $144 million more to the classroom. That $144 million could
pay for approximately 90,000 new MacBooks,
17 million reams of paper, or a salary boost of $4,500 for each teacher
annually.
Finally, the report makes recommendations to Mississippi lawmakers, who are currently re-writing the school funding formula, to curb administrative spending.
28 comments:
Imagine earning a Ph.D and being expected to earn less than high-six figures. I spent 24 years getting educated and you better believe I expect $300k+ yearly.
12:51, if you're making 300k, what happened to your expectation to earn high six figures? Were none of your classes math?
But, this thread is not about PhDs. It's about all admin staff. Not many with a PhD in the public school offices or over at the 'nerd tower'.
In my school district, zero$$ of state funds are spent on administration. It’s local $$ only. I’m somewhat in agreement with 12:51 in that our administrators have spent countless hours and $$ to achieve the necessary certification. They deserve a comparable salary.
How many in your district, 1:31, have a doctorate? I think you miss the point of the Auditor's report and his data.
It makes no difference where the funding comes from that's spent on admin staff. You do understand where District money comes from, don't you?
Another communique from the comrade auditor who would be guvnah!
Some people need to know what the definition of administrative spending is. If you did, you would know that this report is misleading. Shad White knows this but continures to put this misleading information out.
12:51 it's not the individual salaries it is the number of administrators. We have way too many school districts, or fiefdoms if you will.
Shad is absolutely correct.
How bad of a job can people do and still want to be paid more for it? The money spent on education in Mississippi is wasted. What would people think if their doctor or mechanic did the job like teachers and wanted more money? Maybe we should start lowering the amount we pay on education until the people we pay to do it does a better job.
Administrative cost applies to most all of the employees at 'the state department, all superintendents, all principals and vice principals, department heads, vehicles used by those persons (and taken home), expenditures strictly for front office use, credit and gift cards purchased by and used by those employees....does that about cover it?
I'm not about to read his report, but this may be close. If not, I'll be duly lambasted.
PS: Take a drive by the Madison County School District administrative offices (if you can see it for the trees and landscaped gardens). Thank you McGehee. I mean PhD McGehee.
who made the rule that a phd makes you a better administrator cuz that's f'ed up. @12:51: if you spent 24 years to push a pencil around, you're a moron.
They didn't do too well with you, 3:48. Please request a refund of all school taxes paid by your parents for 12 years.
If a Phd deserves more money for just simply having the designation, then we deserve stringent, quantifiable results from them to justify the cost.
And if they don't produce they should be summarily dismissed.
I could easily agree that any MS administrator has an impossible job (assuming they are one of the rare few that actually does the job rather than just attend conventions) because of the broken households and lack parent involvement.
And if that is so, then why are we wasting money on Phds that cannot fix garbage parents?
Just hire lots of average salary babysitters and stop acting like more money is really going to help our students.
PHD - Piled Higher and Deeper
PhDs these days are mostly completed at home, with lots of cut/paste/plagiarism going on. Ask Harvard's president.
Since you brought it up 1:52, none of the administrators in our district have earned a Phd. Obviously, a Phd doesn’t automatically make you a better administrator. An obvious example is our “A” rated district which is consistently rated among the top in the state. Here’s another issue that others have mentioned. Administration is a broad designation that encompasses numerous functions other than salaries.
All I can say is the Admin in one of our offices better thank her lucky stars she has a job. She's totally incompetent, late for work throughout the week & complains about the minimal amount of work she does.
A PhD? Oh she has letters behind her name alright .....DUH
More BS from Shadrack. Sorry, Shad, but the "administrative bloat" propaganda spoon fed to you by your LiberaLtarian masters (never any originality with Shad) is a LIE. And a stale one, too. Sad.
https://fee.org/articles/rising-education-costs-stem-primarily-from-more-teachers-and-bigger-salaries-not-administrative-bloat/
EXSUM: Rising Education Costs Stem Primarily from More Teachers and Bigger Salaries, Not Administrative Bloat
According to a new George Mason University study, schools are paying teachers (and faculty) more in real terms, and have hired more of them.
But of course that study of facts doesn't play well to Bubba Big Trux or Bubba Big Bux III who need some "watch out, that there assistant principal is after your cookie" agitprop for election year.
Most college professors have a Ph.D. Relatively few of them make 6 figure salaries, especially in Mississippi, much less $300k. The expectation of a salary of $300k having a Ph.D. Is actually pretty unrealistic for the vast majority of Ph.D. holders.
Shad never gives examples of bloat.
Year after year he cries wolf.
But can't cite a damn thing.
10:50 - What you seem to be missing is that the Auditor's data represent one state...Mississippi. The article you link and the George Mason study do not.
Come back when you can share California data, which are equally as irrelevant.
The weekend PhDs you can get (think Ole Miss) are worthless, unless you plan on playing the game in Mississippi. There are so many doofuses with them in "education" at all levels in Mississippi, and the only thing they're actually good at is brownnosing and looking the other way regarding how the system is set up to milk funding and cruise to PERS.
Sorry @10:50pm That executive summary and article from George Mason your referenced is funded by the Koch Brothers, who have been outed as leftist oligarchs.
@12:51
Bless your heart. I know several phd’s that couldn’t poor piss out of a boot. Letters should not automatically equal higher pay.
@3:48 You're looking at the problem wrong. You can't attract and keep quality talent unless you pay them market value for their work and give them a good work environment. That leaves us with 3 types of teachers and staff:
1)Those who are qualified and very dedicated to their work - despite the low pay,
2)Those who are qualified but stuck in their locations for various reason (e.g., family), and
3)The lowest common denominator that has a B.S., is willing to take the job, and can be coached through the certification exam.
I suspect that, in most cases, groups 1) and 2) are the second income in the family and/or school schedules give them the flexibility to manage their domestic situations (e.g., school-age children).
As for the 3rd group: In order to fill positions, Mississippi contracts with various companies to coach potential teachers who were otherwise unable to pass the certification exams - despite having a college degree. The resulting newly certified teachers, most of whom squeaked by in their undergraduate classes, are the least qualified people that the schools can hire - but these are the only teachers MS can find who are willing to work for the low pay.
To use your mechanic reference - if you want to open a reputable shop, you need to hire good mechanics. To do that, you have to pay them market value with the possibility of advancement. Otherwise, the only people who will work at your shop are the ones that can barely change a wiper blade and can't get work anywhere else. What's it going to be?
My mom was a long time public school teacher and it was obvious by the end of her career the superintendent and his assistant were being given regular raises by the board for no real reason. It adds up.
There are too many independent school districts in our state with a six figure administrator plus staff to manage fewer teachers and students than a principal at a larger high school. Some consolidation of these districts was forced years back but there needs to be about thirty more or so who should be eliminated, and that's not even touching the kingdoms of the community colleges in our state.
4:30, I know the late owner that sold the building to the school district, and he gave them a great deal. Also, the Madison County School District (including past and present leadership) are the reason that Madison County is best County in Mississippi.
The fundamental issue always comes back to fiat currency and the printing of extra money to fund ridiculous things on both sides of the isle and for us as citizens to pay through it via "manageable" inflation.
One of these is how college education has completely shifted in the last 50 years. As more money was printed, more money than our total productivity gains, all that extra money in the system had to find itself somewhere.
Some of it ended up college tuition and college programs etc etc. With that came the rise of meaningless PhD degrees available across most all institutions.
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