Providence - Top 25 Highest Paid School Employees

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Stephen Beale, GoLocalProv News Editor

The city of Providence spent $4.4 million on salaries and benefits for just the top 25 highest-earning school employees in 2010, according to data provided to GoLocalProv in response to an open records request.

That represents about a half-a-million-dollar increase over the total cost of the top 25 employees in 2009, which was $3.9 million.

The cost of salaries alone was $3.4 million. That figure includes base salary, sick bonus, longevity, a $2,500 to $3,700 annual stipend to employees who have earned advanced degrees, and step increases, which are annual automatic raises. The remaining $1 million for “fringe benefits” includes medical and dental insurance as well as union benefits.

Exception to the rule: Four of top five are teachers

Four of the top five highest earning employees in 2010 were not administrators, but teachers. (See below for the top 25 list, ranked by salary, not including their fringe benefits.) Those four teachers made it to the top thanks to a settlement they reached with the school district in a lawsuit that was filed after they were terminated, according to Matt Clarkin, the former Chief Financial Officer for the district and now the Internal Auditor for the city.

Excluding those four teachers, the highest paid employee in 2010 was Superintendent of Schools Thomas Brady, who pulled in $193,338 in total wages and an additional $67,645 in fringe benefits. In all, his compensation was worth $260,984 for the year—which is actually a reduction of approximately $3,000 from 2009. (Brady is pictured right.)

Most of top 25 are principals and administrators

All of the remaining top 25 employees on the list are senior administrators, with the exception of Kenneth Nardozza, a special education teacher at the Providence Career and Technical Academy, whose total salary of $125,688 put him ninth on the list. Nardozza drew an additional $31,975 in fringe benefits for the year.

Of the top 25, one is an assistant principal, nine are high school principals, and three are administrators somewhere in between the level of superintendent and principal. That last category includes those administrators who are responsible for overseeing groups of schools—elementary, middle, or secondary. For example, the executive director for middle-level education was Marc Catone, who earned 125,644 in total wages and 44,869 in fringe benefits.

Councilmen: School department has too many managers

In interviews with GoLocalProv, some Providence councilmen took issue not with the amount administrators are earning—but with how many administrators there are. “I think there’s room where we could cut some of these positions and/or combine some of these positions,” said Councilman Kevin Jackson. “None of these positions has a direct influence or impact on how our children achieve … to me that’s where the emphasis should go.”

Like Jackson, Councilman Miguel Luna thinks the district is top-heavy. “I think there are too many supervisors,” Luna said. “You have the principals that are the managers of individual schools. You might think that on top of that you might have the superintendent, but no, you have other managers to oversee those managers.”

Despite such criticism, Clarkin noted that the cost of administrators is in line with other school districts. In the 2008 to 2009 school year, Rhode Island districts spent an average of 5.6 percent of their per-pupil costs on “leadership,” an expense which includes salaries and benefits for administrators. That same year, Providence spent 4.8 percent. (See chart on left. Note that 2008-2009 is the latest available data.)

A spokesman for Mayor Angel Taveras declined to comment on the data, saying Taveras was still in the midst of a comprehensive review of all city departments.

Below is the complete ranking of the top 25 paid employees. (Note that total salary is listed as "total wages." This figure does not include fringe benefits.)

Click here to download the PDF which has more detailed information. Note that on the PDF total wages is divided into base pay and additional wages, which includes pay for professional development, summer hours, and severance. The PDF also lists the fringe benefits for the employees and includes the top 25 highest paid employees in 2009. (Data is for calendar years, not fiscal years.)

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

Email to a friend Permalink

Comments:

Malachi Constant

8:23am on Tuesday, February 15, 2011

two things. My god....to put people on a list as a result of a lawsuit is just pure bad faith.

Second. Your chart. HERE IS THE REAL STORY. The media always says that teacher salaries cost districts 80 or 90 percent of its costs....welllllllll look at your chart. 46%.

robert benson

8:44am on Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Your figure for Providence per pupil cost is low compared to the NEA teachers union research study--Rankings and Estimates. See http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/010rankings.pdf . The NEA claims R.I.'s per student (K-12) cost is $17,278 for the 2008-2009 school year. (highest in the country and about 70% above the national average for this variable). You referenced R.I. Dept. of Education data. Perhaps you can figure out why this discrepancy exists.

The NEA study also points out R.i. has the lowest student-teacher ratio at 9.2, the 9th highest teachers salaries, and was one of only two states with a decrease in enrollment. No matter how you look at R.I. K-12 education costs, we are an outlier. We are at the most costly extreme. If R.I. spends more to educate its students than any other state how come we have high school kids who can't read or write? The answer to that question would make a great article.

Gary Arnold

12:03pm on Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Plunder is a thought that comes to mind in RI educational systems.
Like our political system, our public services system, police and fire systems they are mostly unionized or follow union contracts as a common ground of ripping off the tax payer.
Any of these organizations have built an infrastructure that would tip over from being top heavy and for what result?
Our educational system is the highest cost with the lowest rating of performance in the USA, where is the reform, where is the accountability and where are the leaders that can correct this mess?
I would not begrudge salaries if we were getting our value but that is not the case, we get abuse.
It's time for the RI tax payers to take aim at these organizations and force reform, they are living above their ability to perform.

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.