Administrator pay far outpacing that of teachers over last six years

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The average school superintendent in Oklahoma makes more than twice the average teacher. <br><br>And the disparity in pay is growing. "It's really common knowledge in Oklahoma

Monday, March 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The average school superintendent in Oklahoma makes more than twice the average teacher.

And the disparity in pay is growing. "It's really common knowledge in Oklahoma education that the farther away you are from the kids, the more money you make," said Oklahoma City teacher Cynthia Fravel, a 24-year teaching veteran who holds a master's degree.

Indeed, pay rates for the state's school superintendents have grown twice as fast as those of teachers over the last six years, according to an analysis of numbers from the state Education Department.

In a copyright story, The Sunday Oklahoman reports the average superintendent in the state made $64,900 in salary and benefits in 1998-99, the year of the latest complete figures available.

Teachers earned an average $31,200.

But efforts are under way in the Legislature to make some smaller districts share superintendents, which officials hope would cut into the $118.5 million spent on administrative costs last year.

In 1996-97, numbers from the National Council on Education show only Alaska and North Dakota spent a higher percentage of their school budgets on district administrative costs than Oklahoma.

But state Superintendent Sandy Garrett said superintendents are not the only ones to blame. She said superintendent pay packages accounted for only 1 percent of the state's $3.6 billion education budget. Administrative costs also include annual school district audits, travel for school board members, school elections, insurance and other expenses.

Garrett suggested lowering the percentage that school districts can spend on administrative costs. State law requires school districts with less than 500 students to keep administrative costs under 10 percent of their budgets, while districts with more than1,500 students must keep those budgets below 6 percent. Those schools in between are capped at 8 percent.

State Education Secretary Floyd Coppedge said administrative costs can be reduced by having schools share centralized administrative services such as transportation and maintenance. He also wants teaching principals instead of superintendents to leadsome schools.

"We're not talking about consolidating schools or mass superintendent layoffs," Coppedge said. "We're talking about more money going into classroom instruction."

Some small school districts are already saving money by hiring part-time superintendents who often are retired and can only earn up to $15,000 a year.

Terry Selman is such a superintendent at the 53-student Byars School District in McClain County. He said efforts to shrink the number of superintendents is just another jab at a group of educators he feels has been discriminated against for years.

"I'd sure like for the legislators to follow some of these superintendents around for a couple of weeks," he said. "They already have made us feel like dogs that aren't needed. I go to meetings all the time where all superintendents talk about is retiring. They're burned out."