The exorbitant salaries paid to Delaware superintendents and countless other school administrators are finally getting a good look from our elected officials. As a newspaper reporter for the Dover Post last summer, I wrote about the large superintendent, assistant superintendent and deputy superintendent salaries and would like to think our state auditor Tom Wagner read the article, too.
Regardless of whether he did or not, he has garnered much media attention lately with his proposal to rein in some of these costs. When I wrote about the district salaries last summer the reaction was somewhat predictable — district officials hated it while the teachers’ unions celebrated it.
In Milford, Robert Smith was the sixth highest paid superintendent in the state. That’s comparable pay to upstate superintendents who have onwards up to four times Milford’s student population. Some will argue that Milford doesn’t get as much money as other districts and that kind of salary is justified because the district has done well recently on state tests.
If Milford voters are happy with that, then they should be satisfied.
In David LaRoss’s article this week, it’s pointed out that the new superintendent’s salary is “not going to be anywhere near” Smith’s salary. But at $135,213, that’s still a lot of money in my book.
In these tight times, inflated district salaries result in more money going to administration than to the classroom. And voters need to decide if that’s where they want their money going.
My vote is for the classroom because public education should be for the children; not to line the pockets of an elite few.
Wagner’s final report will be released in the upcoming weeks and in it he said he would suggest that districts consolidate by county to save costs.
Some will inevitably argue that school identities will be lost through consolidation and there will be more red tape to go through if there’s a problem. But there’s already red tape now. And individual schools still will be able to retain their separate identities. The fact of the matter is, it’s the principal who runs the school and as long as that person is doing his/her job then the school will succeed.
Wagner’s report is sure to be interesting. It’s something our legislators should seriously consider and something taxpayers should support.
— Melissa K. Steele
Editor
Milford, Del. —
