Senate Bill 161 is scheduled to be heard on the floor of the Senate tomorrow. And while I certainly like the sponsor, this bill is just another awful attack on schools that will ultimately hurt them in the long run, and it does nothing for raising teacher salaries.
As noted on South Dakota Searchlight,
Sioux Falls Republican Sen. Sue Peterson told the state Senate Education Committee she introduced Senate Bill 161 to close the gap between the average salaries of teachers and administrators in South Dakota.
And..
The legislation would cap administrative salaries at three times a district’s average teacher salary.
And..
There is no nationwide ranking for average administrator pay by state through a professional organization like the National Education Association teacher salary listing, according to Rob Monson, executive director for School Administrators of South Dakota.
Monson, who spoke with South Dakota Searchlight after the committee hearing, also said he does not have complete data to compare the state’s administrative and teacher salaries.
Close the gap? it does anything but.
So the comparison between teacher salaries and administrator salaries is anecdotal at best, and nobody has any real ranking of where administrator salaries really are.
About the only thing I can tell you is that the pool of competent administrators is not more and more plentiful. It is shrinking as fewer people have any interest in going into education in South Dakota. And when you see legislation like this, can you really blame them?
If I learned anything from being married to my wife (Dr. Powers) who rose up through the ranks from being a teacher in special education, and eventually became a school administrator for a number of years, it’s that if you have good teachers, most often that’s because they were fostered and mentored by good administrators.
A School Administrator isn’t someone who says “this teacher goes here and this teacher goes here.” It’s far more complex than this legislation remotely gives administrators credit for.
In my wife’s role as a special ed administrator, I know she supervised well over 100 employees across 6 or 7 schools, and dealt with complicated issues with both teaching staff, professional specialties such as therapists, school psychs, etc. and complex students with everything ranging from mild learning disabilities to those receiving end-of-life care, but who were still eligible for a free and appropriate public education that needed to be delivered while they were receiving nursing care. And working to ensure compliance with both state and federal law in an attempt to keep the school district from being sued or found liable for civil rights violations.
Oh, most of these staff being supervised? They have masters level or doctoral degrees, as is required of the administrators.
If you are at the superintendent level, you absolutely have to have a doctoral degree, and you do all those things plus you are leading several hundred employees in a district the size of Brookings, you have to be a construction/project manager, public affairs director, you formulate and set a $75 million budget, and you are on call 24 hours a day. And I am quite sure I am leaving out massive parts of what they are responsible for.
Administrators are paid what the market rate in the region is, and that’s if the school district can find an administrator willing to do the job. Superintendents in this current environment are lucky if they can spend five or six years at the same position before the political environment demands a change. There is no guaranteed longevity and retirement after 20 years in a town at an administrators position, especially at a time when state politics are toxic towards educators. They know they are going into a short-term gig, but they also are going to be required to fully set up roots in the community. That does affect what they will go to work for.
What will happen if this legislation passes, and districts are unable to find a qualified administrator? There is a reason many school districts contract with search firms to find a superintendent. They don’t grow on trees, and as noted the market is shrinking.
I would venture a district who can’t find a leader at the price this legislation would hamstring them to will have to contract with an outside co-op or other organization for short-term district management for the district at a higher price then they would pay on a regular two-year contract basis. Alternatively, they might find somebody willing to do it on the cheap. Hoping they aren’t setting themselves up for mediocrity.
If Senator Peterson and other legislators want to find a way to improve teacher salaries, they need to pay attention to the adage that “you don’t build a house by pulling down someone else’s,” because that is all this legislation does.
If we agree we want to pay teachers more in comparison to administrators, start in the budget by keeping teacher salaries in pace with inflation. And find them more money.
Knuckle down and give them an existing revenue source or add new ones. Dedicate solar or pipeline revenues to education on top of existing sources. Do something besides give it lip service.
On this and other measures that legislators claim will make education better, legislators should quit trying to blow up the school for fireplace kindling, and then try to claim it will somehow be a victory because we have firewood to use.
Vote no on Senate Bill 161 tomorrow. For your local school’s sake.
(Update – The bill failed on a vote of 13 yea, and 22 nay votes.)
So if Aberdeen Central with 1,350 students in high school and the average teacher pay is $40,000 and Waverly High School has 275 stidents total K – 12 and pay teachers $40,000, the Supt at each school will get equal pay?
Where are finding these peoplle that we are sending to Pierre?
It’s time to take a stand for our teachers and our children’s education! The cookie jar of funding should be prioritized – invest in our educators and empower the school board to make informed decisions based on what our schools need. Sioux Falls administration is an executive role that must undergo a national evaluation for accountability and effectiveness. Our students deserve better, and that starts with advocating for fair compensation and resources for those shaping our future. L
Representative Peterson is the exact reason we need school lobbyist in Pierre every day. We need someone who will sit in Pierre and call out the blatant misinformation. I really wish SD DOE would step in and help when Legislators when they are pulling inaccurate numbers out of thin air. Keep in mind, these “numbers” are being regurgitated all over the internet as truth as we should be able to trust our Legislators. Peterson’s Zip Recruiter figures show South Dakota being 16th in the Nation for Administrators. The same Zip Recruiter data shows South Dakota teachers being 16th in the Nation. Not accurate at all. Doesn’t make any sense and when do we start using Zip Recruiter data to draft legislation? The attack and attempt to defund Public Education continues in the state where per pupil spending is 44th in the nation https://doe.sd.gov/legislature/documents/2024/SchoolFunding-Snapshot.pdf and the ACT scores are multiple points ahead of the National Average and are actually leading the nation in the 30 states where over 30 percent of the Student Population take the test https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/2024-Average-ACT-Scores-by-State-Percent-Meeting-Benchmarks.pdf. We will see if her numbers are walked by on the floor today or if the haters double down.
SD DOE is useless on this front. Dr. Graves is nothing more than a stooge for the former governor. The office has routinely purged folks who don’t walk his partisan line, and often his own department’s “data” is inadequate. Case in point, ask yourself why the public listings for teacher turnover in SD are two years behind on the SD DOE website.
In the state he’s squandered the respect of many school boards, administrators, teachers, librarians, counselors, and higher ed folks. To his credit, it’s almost impressive getting those groups on the same side of anything.
Who from the public school lobby is paying you?
Nobody. My post is based on real world observation. Who is paying you, Mr. Anonymous?
That’s right. RAISE teacher pay… don’t reduce administration salaries. We are at the bottom compared to other states and THIS is their solution?
Education level, poverty level and life expectancy. Compare the fifty states and you’ll see a pattern. Then you might ask… are we Republicans in a competition to get to the bottom in all of these metrics?
Well, we are succeeding. Trump won 19 of the 20 states with the lowest education level. 17 of 20 worst states for poverty level. And Trump won 19 of 20 states with the lowest life expectancy. Maybe encouraging ignorance and an unhealthy lifestyle is our GOTV strategy.
Someone please explain this to me. How are such consistently horrible results even possible? Maybe someone should ask Sen. Peterson.
Thanks for this post and your “heads up” from a knowledgeable insider’s perspective Pat. To a casual observer with limited knowledge this bill might seem sensible at first glance. After reading your comments I would strongly oppose it. Our “limited government” conservatives at the Capitol are certainly hellbent on micromanaging every detail of our public education system.
I’m just glad enough saw the light today to kill the bill 13 to 22.
There would be more money for teachers if the schools were not so top heavy with administrators
Back in the 1960s, the Superintendent of Schools was a county job, no matter how many schools were in the district, each school had a principal, and vice-principals were unknown. The public high school I attended had over 1000 students. Somehow our principal was able to run everything, with one secretary. What changed? Is it that compliance with regulations from the state and federal Departments of Education requires so much paperwork the schools need all the administrative staff? Are they bogged down with trash? Maybe the solution is to take out the trash?
Not likely. This is a product of our environment. Everything is litigated these days which creates a natural reaction of ever building bureaucracy. Schools, hospitals, and every entity under the sun are experiencing this problem. I’d love to see schools run by teachers, hospitals run by doctors, but lawyers and insurance companies will never allow for it. Removing the DOE will probably put even more liability on individual districts. Be careful what you wish for.
Back in your day if you acted up you got a beating. If you didn’t get good grades you were stupid and dropped out. I think we do things a bit different these days with student support that does indeed take more administrative staff to manage.
Looking at nationwide numbers from xyz center for public education doesn’t exactly have the pulse on SD. Our school in fact has 1 person who is the principal and superintendent for the entire k12.
In most cases of small to medium schools, the principal and superintendent have one of the highest paid positions in the county. That always brings resentment and jealousy.