The April 17th Ft. Worth Star Telegram presented a feature article or "expose" if you will, of the outlandish salaries of administrative assistants to the superintendents of Texas public schools. Isn't it funny how most people think other people make too much money?
The article discussed the salaries of several North Texas school districts and the salaries paid to those employees that work directly for the Superintendent. I find it humorous that the ultra conservative who was pointing out the waste associated with the inflated salaries being paid for this position was only talking about one or two employees per district! Her other point was they are paid a lot more than teachers even with a Master's degree. Did it occur to her that administrative assistants have degrees too?
Teachers should be really enjoying the limelight for this brief moment in time. It wasn't too long ago that teaching was considered the career of last resort. Now, it's a profession that seems to be untouchable. Good for them. But, while saying that, must we demean other careers or professions that are honorable and also vital to the smooth operations of a school district? The truth of the matter is, behind every successful CEO or school superintendent is a great ad min. Someone has to have their backs. There are too many things that are too important to slip through the cracks. Many, if not most, ad mins have college degrees. Many have come up through the ranks and know the district inside and out. Many have years of experience and a lot of responsibility.
The ad min is not the first to go when superintendents change. Most smart new superintendents depend on seasoned ad mins to teach them the district ropes. Go out on the open market and see what an executive administrative assistant makes. It's not peanuts.
Also, another totally unfair salary comparison is to look at teachers on 187 day contracts and administrative assistants on 227. If a teacher makes $46,000 working 187 days, a comparison to the administrative assistant would be to take the teacher's $245.98 a day earnings and multiply it by 227. That would equal $55,837. It seems no one remembers that summer vacation.
For one to make a wholesale assumption that the work of an executive administrative assistant is somehow not important, as professional, or as worthy as a teacher's is a wrong assumption. They are just different. Everyone should be compensated for their chosen profession as the market place will allow. Certainly the ultra conservative can find something better to hang their hat on than cutting the salary of one or two people in an entire district.
I have a suggestion. Why not start with the amount of money spent developing new tests for students to take every few years. Let's see, we started with the TAAS, then we got the TAKS and now we will have the STAAR. All this testing comes with a price, however.
In the year 2000, TEA paid $9.8 million a year for a five year contract to develop and administer mandated state wide testing to students. In 2009, it had grown to $93 million a year. No telling what it is for 2012 when they introduce the new STAAR end of course testing. Not only is it an outrageous amount of money on the state level, it has expensive implications for every school district. Testing days for high schools will potentially go from 25 a year to 40. That means substitute teachers so the classroom teacher can be out of class monitoring. It mean more training so that teachers can learn how to teach students to write with brevity after years of requiring that writing be descriptive. It also means that a classroom teacher will be preparing some students for STAAR testing and others for TAKS testing if multiple grades are in one class, which is the case in high school.
Schools are to be held accountable, but they should at least have a target that doesn't blow like the wind every time the legislature is in town!
Just for the locals - the Burleson ISD executive administrative assistant, Mary Ellen Burch, is no light-weight. She has a BS in Elementary Education, with a minor in English and Math from TCU. She taught fifth grade in Arlington ISD for ten years where she was also GT certified. She has been in the BISD since August of 2003 when she assumed her current position after the promotion of Judy Brazeel to Assistant Director of Community Education. I didn't ask her pay rate, but I'm ok with what ever it is...
Just sayin'
Ann Rose
