By James R. Rickabaugh, Superintendent

A recent study by the Educational Research Service (ERS) provides a wealth of information for school leaders who are confronting accusations and popular misconceptions about the cost of school administration. The report, titled Answering the Critics of School Administration: What are the Facts?, uses real data to counter six of the perceptions presented in the media and shared by many of the critics of public education:

Perception 1.  School administration is an unnecessary burden on schools and should be curtailed. The report shows a number of facts supporting strong leadership at the building, central office, and superintendent levels as making a crucial difference in creating and maintaining effective schools. In fact, there are few examples of effective schools that do not enjoy strong administrative leadership. Similarly, there are few if any strong schools that do not have strong administrative leadership.

Perception 2.  There are too many administrators. Data presented in the ERS report show that in the typical school, district administrative personnel make up less than 4 percent of all personnel. Research presented in the report also argues that school management personnel typically supervise more people and have a wider scope of responsibility than found in other professional fields.

Perception 3.  The number of school administrators is growing rapidly and at the expense of resources allocated to instruction. The report documents that staff members at the central office level have, in fact, been assigned new and expanded duties in recent years and that most school districts are not adding administrative positions. Interestingly, while the ratio of students to district level administrative personnel has dropped over the past decade the same decrease has not occurred in the student/teacher ratio.

Perception 4.  School administrators are paid too much. Again, research presented in the ERS report shows that administrator pay has not gone up at the expense of teacher pay, which most regard as, on average, low. The ratio of administrative salaries to teacher salaries is considerably lower than similar ratios in other fields. 

Perception 5.  Increasing amounts of school budgets are going to administration. Yet the facts show that over the past decade and a half the share of school budgets going to instruction and administration has been stable. Approximately two-thirds of budgets during this time have been allocated to instruction-related expenditures.

Perception 6.  A lot of money is going to administration that could be better spent for other purposes. The report notes that if funds currently allocated to administration were eliminated, the tasks performed by central office staff would still be necessary. Further, only about 2.2 percent of district budgets on average are allocated to central office salaries.

Source:  Answering the critics of school administration. (2005). Arlington, VA: Education Research Service.  www.ers.org