June 8, 2009

by Harold Gentry

Having been given the official title of community watchdog, the obvious question is ”What good is a watchdog who won’t bark?” The following opinions are my own and are based on many hours of research.

 1) Taking into consideration the economy worldwide, superintendent salaries statewide and the conditions under which he has had to operate, Dr. Beard for less than one year as CISD superintendent deserved a raise of no more than $5,500 instead of the $12,500 increase he was given. This 8% increase brings his salary to $152,500, not including benefits.

2) The CISD school board has seven members. Most often the board president is the spokesperson. Each member is elected as an individual and may be criticized individually or corporately for their decisions. One person cannot and should not make decisions without the other six members.

3) School Board president Stu Madison stated that the median pay for a superintendent the size of Cleburne ISD is $165,000.  I researched this and could not confirm it.  From what I found,  superintendent salaries are based on what you are willing to pay for what they convince you they can do.

4) I am critical of all school districts in the State of Texas, not just Cleburne ISD. CISD is not the only district guilty of misuse, waste and lack of accountability. But Cleburne ISD got caught. The public education laws need to be rewritten, and they don’t need to be written and/or enforced by educators.

TASB and the Texas Education Agency websites print lists of superintendent’s salaries throughout Texas. The list has 1242 superintendents listed by region, county, district number, district name, superintendent’s name, FTE, base pay, pay and enrollment.

The highest superintendent’s salary begins at $334,212 at Beaumont ISD which has a current enrollment of 19,309. The second highest salary is $327,010 at Houston ISD which has an enrollment of 200,225. So right off the bat you can see that all things are not equal. The low man on the totem pole of those reported has a salary of $10 which is at the American Youthworks Charter School which shows an enrollment of 333.

To put this in perspective,  the President of the United States, Barack Obama’s salary is $400,000. The Vice President, Joe Biden’s salary is $221,222. How many kids do you think these guys are responsible for? Of course then you might further ask what former CEO Rick Waggoner got as corporate boss at GM compared to the President’s salary. Again all things are not equal.

If the median pay for a superintendent of a district this size is $165,000 I offer these figures for you to chew on and come to your own conclusion. Cleburne ISD is listed as having an enrollment of 6,935 students according to the TEA list. Dr. Beard now makes $152,500, up 8% from his old base pay of $140,000.

To be able to make some sort of reasonable comparison I looked for the district that had the closest student enrollment figures to CISD. That school district was Granbury ISD which had 6,919 students and a superintendent’s salary of $145,800. That’s $6,700 less than Dr. Beard’s salary. 

Joe Ripple, former assistant superintendent of CISD, left to become superintendent of Brazosport ISD. Records show that their student enrollment is 12,960. His base pay is $137,850.

The next district up the list, Frenship ISD, had a student enrollment of 7,043 with a salary of $132,000. The district just below us was Texarkana ISD with a student enrollment of 6,660 and a salary of $151,700. To see the list go to this web address: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/adhocrpt/adpea09.html.

By studying the list and making your own comparisons I think you can logically reason that there are no set rules for what the median pay is for a superintendent with a district this size. Salaries are all over the place across the state. My opinion is that the pay should be based on the number of students enrolled. But then there are variables in the number of department heads and staff.

As far as begrudging anyone a pay raise, I do not think Dr. Beard’s old base salary of $140,000 was quite poverty level pay. You also have to take into consideration that we also currently employ our superintendent’s spouse at a salary of $60,609 a year. This gives the Beards a base household income of $213,109.

The estimated median household income (husband and wife’s salaries combined) for Cleburne in 2007 was $35,481. For the state it’s $47,548.  Cleburne ISD superintendent and his spouse are paid more than six times the median household income, or 600% more. This figure does not include benefits and perks.

Below is a table of selected superintendent’s salaries for comparison.

Sorry CISD, but it appears from the last school board election that there are now about 1059 community watchdogs barking.

Table of Superintendent’s Salaries