Union says administrators’ pay came up during negotiations.
After months of textbook agitation before the Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education, public school teachers can look forward to fatter paychecks.***image1***
But even with the average 7.05 percent increase agreed to by Santa Fe school district and union leaders on Nov. 12, an SFR analysis shows that most teachers still get the short end of the ruler, particularly compared with top district administrators. (The school board was scheduled to vote and finalize the agreement after press time Nov. 20).
Under the agreement, no certified teacher or ancillary staff member will receive less than a 4.5 percent increase.
But back in August, across-the-board 7 percent raises were approved for the district’s directors and principals.
And, with one exception, the salaries for the district’s five-member executive teamâ€"including Superintendent Leslie Carpenterâ€"will rise by 5 to 11 percent. Four of the five will see their salaries approach six figures.
The superintendent was already there. Her base pay will top out at approximately $124,700, not including reimbursements for gas, maintenance on her district-provided vehicle, home Internet and cell phone service that amount to nearly $3,000 this past year alone, according to a breakdown provided by the district. No other district employee receives similar perks.
According to state rankings, Carpenter is New Mexico’s 15th highest paid school superintendent. The Santa Fe school district is the state’s fifth largest.
But the same ranking also indicates that Carpenter’s base pay is roughly in line with that of superintendents in similarly sized school districts such as Farmington, Rio Rancho and Gallup.
Grace Mayer, president of the Santa Fe affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA), offers a possible explanation for why management’s pay increases can outpace teachers’.
“I think that the school board is always aware of the work and the level of intensity of work that an administrator performs because they’re constantly around them,� Mayer tells SFR. “They’re not constantly around teachers so I think there’s a little bit of a disconnect.�
Santa Fe Board of Education President Frank Montaño pleads guilty, but only to a point.
“It’s probably true that we spend more time with the executive team…but I’m certainly well aware of how hard our teachers work,â€? he says. Montaño adds that teachers are definitely underpaidâ€"“No doubt about it,â€? he saysâ€"and believes a “decent cost-of-living raiseâ€? should be a priority in the district’s lobbying efforts during next year’s legislative session.
Carpenter says compensation for district administrators is tied to what the district’s most experienced teachers earn, but pro-rated for 12-month contracts versus teachers’ nine month contracts.
“We didn’t want to set arbitrary [administrator] salaries,� she says. She adds that the department that oversees the district’s finances will lose one administrator next year in a “cost neutral reorganization,� and that salaries for several other department heads will be paid with federal funds. A new music coordinator’s salary will be privately funded, she says.
Nonetheless, the issue of administrators’ pay came into play during recent negotiations. Mayer and fellow NEA bargaining team member Bernice Garcia Baca, a counselor at Ramirez Thomas Elementary, say the district leadership was less than forthcoming with information on director and principal compensation, as well as in providing an explanation as to how the district could afford the chief financial officer’s 11.45 percent raise. The district says all the information was provided, but acknowledges that it may have been difficult to interpret.
With the union negotiations behind her, Carpenter outlined, on Nov. 15, the district’s major challenges in her State of the Schools address. The need for better salaries for both teachers and administrators remained among them.
Indeed, the recently negotiated teacher pay raises are not expected to significantly boost Santa Fe’s average teacher pay next year compared to the state’s other districts; Santa Fe is currently 63rd among the state’s 89 school districts, according to data compiled by the New Mexico Public Education Department. The average teacher salary, last year, was approximately $42,800.
“People say money can’t buy quality education,� Garcia Baca says, as she ticks off the teachers she knows who’ve fled to greener pastures. “But I say it can!�
Santa Fe Reporter