Schools pay the price for top managers

By Julie Davidow/Staff Writer

New state requirements, plus a competitive job market have led several Solano County school districts to rearrange their management teams by creating more positions, offering higher salaries and changing job descriptions.

Despite heated teacher salary negotiations, school district officials say allocating more resources to administration is necessary to lure and retain good employees.

The salary adjustments, plus cost-of-living increases and movement on the salary schedule, led to double-digit raises for many administrators.

Vacaville Unified School District increased its cadre of administrators by setting up a technology information office, headed by technology director Ken Johnson, to provide support for computer systems in the schools.

Vacaville has also created a new position - which has not yet been filled - to focus entirely on analyzing standardized test data. The new assessment coordinator will make an annual base salary of about $80,000 and will allow teachers access to testing data for incoming students.

This will help educators identify areas where individual students need extra help, Superintendent Rich Jackson said.

Several top administrators also received new job titles, accompanied by pay hikes and additional responsibilities.

Ron Hawkins switched from director of personnel to assistant superintendent. His new job description includes leading contract negotiations for employee unions - a job that formerly fell to the deputy superintendent of administrative services.

Hawkins' base salary jumped from $77,918 in 1999 to $94,550 in 2000 - an increase of 21 percent.

Jackson said removing personnel functions from the office of administrative services will make the job more attractive for prospective candidates to replace outgoing deputy superintendent of administrative services Terry Beckham.

Job title changes also resulted in higher salaries for several other Vacaville administrators, including Shereene Wilkerson who promoted from coordinator of strategic planning to the director of planning and evaluation. Wilkerson's base salary increased 14 percent, from $76,726 to $87,477.

Thomas Davis was promoted from coordinator to director of staff development. His base salary increased 17 percent, from $71,823 to $84,589. The staff development office provides ongoing training and education for teachers and has incurred increased pressure from the state in recent years to file reports tracking teachers' progress, Jackson said.

Despite a beefed up district office, Jackson said Vacaville still ranks far below other districts in the state on administrative spending.

"We are still (among) the lowest 50 unified school districts in the state in terms of how much of the general fund we spend on administrative services," Jackson said.

According to state law, school districts should employ no more than eight administrators for every 100 teachers that work in the district. There are 44 administrators working in Vacaville and 864 teachers. By law, Vacaville could have up to 69 administrators.

Prompted by a rash of resignations in its management ranks, Travis Unified School District overhauled salaries for district managers and principals.

Business operations director Bill Taylor's base pay increased from $70,556 to $84,303 - a 19 percent raise - when he became assistant superintendent of business services. Sankaran Iyer switched from information services director to technology director with a 17 percent pay increase, from $71,274 to $83,225. Controller Susan Rinne was promoted to fiscal director and received a 7 percent pay increase, from $65,251 to $69,639.

Superintendent Jacki Cottingim received a 3.5 percent raise - the smallest pay increase among administrators in the Travis district.

Cottingim said the pay hikes were necessary to bring Travis' salaries in line with comparably sized districts.

In a study conducted last summer, district officials discovered Travis' management salaries were among the lowest around.

"The adjustment was simply because our administrators were underpaid," Cottingim said. "Not only did we run the risk of losing business people to higher paying districts, we also ran the risk of not being able to get any principals at all."

Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District also shuffled its management team this year, with several top administrators leaving for other school districts and new positions being created. Lyle Smoot filled the position of director of facilities and construction. Smoot's total compensation package adds up to $101,568, which includes $94,728 in base pay, $900 in mileage and $5,940 in health benefits. Smoot's predecessor, Karen Christensen, earned a total of $88,621 last year.

Fairfield-Suisun is still waiting for a chief business officer to replace Mike Lenahan, who left in August for a similar position for the Alameda County Office of Education.

"What exists is a statewide shortage for management candidates for all positions," said Patricia Crocker, who served as Fairfield-Suisun's acting assistant superintendent of personnel, last month.