DR. SUZANNE SCALLION
WESTFIELD – During an appearance on The Westfield News Radio Show on 89.5 WSKB yesterday morning, Westfield Schools Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion spoke of how the school department has been forced to get creative with administrative positions over the past few years.
According to information compiled from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s website by Westfield Director of Technology and Business Services Ronald Rix, the district has seen the percentage of their budget devoted to administration hover around two percent since 2006. This percentage began to shrink in 2011, when the district’s budget set aside 2.31 percent, or $1,789,957, it’s lowest since 2006.
RON RIX
The percentage fell below two percent in 2012, when the district spent $1,497,178, or 1.96 percent on administration. For 2013, the district will spend roughly $1,413,652 or 1.81 percent, though the 2013 numbers have yet to be certified.
“The percentage of our budget has remained consistent, with a slight dip in ’09, ’10, and ’11,” Scallion said yesterday on The Westfield News Radio Show. “We’ve also seen a decrease in administrative costs of about half a percent from ’07 to ’13, which is just amazing given inflation and everything else.”
“We’ve buttoned up. If you look at the administrative costs for Westfield in ’06 – 2.37 percent of the whole budget – in 2013, they were 1.8 percent of the budget,” she said. “I believe thats a reduction of around 25 percent.”
Scallion said that, as the administration costs continued to be scaled back at the start of the decade, the teachers’ cut of the budget remained high.
“Teachers were still at 38.46 percent of the district budget (in 2013),” she said. “But what has gone up as administrative costs have gone down, are insurance and retirement, which went from 16 to 19 percent (since 2006).”
“Our teachers salaries have remained roughly the same,” said Rix. “As you look at things and say ‘hmm, if these are all staying the same, where is the difference?’ A lot of it has gone into our healthcare.”
Despite the cuts in the administrative budget, Scallion said that news of the creation of new positions may give folks the wrong impression.
“People hear that there is a new Director of Curriculum and Instruction (Susan Dargie) and people act as if Eileen Jachym is still here… No, Eileen retired,” Scallion said, mentioning the efforts of Rix and Director of Assessment & Accountability Denise Ruszala, who have each recently assumed heavier workloads and more responsibilities within the administration.
“She (Denise) is not only in charge of assessment, but also in charge of English learners, since we lost that position. We lost a Director of Buildings, too. Those positions – we’ve done what we thought we needed to do.”
“We’ve done a lot of consolidation. If you look at my position, I’m doing the jobs that three people used to do – the technology supervisor, the business manager, and the facilities director,” said Rix. “So there are three salaries there put into one.”
Scallion said that cuts in administrative costs have been done to hire instructional coaches who support the district’s instructional program, where she says the district’s energy needs to be focused.
Currently, Scallion is the highest paid administrator in the district, and is set to earn $148,060 for the fiscal year 2015, an increase from $143,800 in FY14. Rix comes in second at $112,200 for FY15, an increase of $2,200 from his FY14 salary.
Human Resource Director Jen Willard will earn $105,060 for FY15, an increase from $102,000 in FY14, and Dargie will see her pay jump from $95,024 to $97,086 in FY15.
Positions that saw cuts included a Special Education Clerical, which dropped from $94,659 to $93,557 in FY15, a Curriculum Clerical, from $84,813 to $79,356, a Grants Coordinator from $61,206 to $57,500, and a Human Resources Specialist from $104,500 to $68,850 for FY15.
Overall, Westfield currently spends a smaller percentage on administrative costs than any surrounding large local districts, including Agawam, Chicopee, Holyoke, and West Springfield.
For 2011-2012, Holyoke and Agawam increased their administrative pay, while Chicopee and West Springfield slashed theirs.
Holyoke’s 2012 budget accomodated $3,406,028 for it’s administrators, a .24 percent increase from the 3.00 percent it spent in 2011. Agawam raised their administrative budget in similar fashion in 2012, setting aside $1,915,095 – 3.51 percent of it’s budget – for administrators, a .28 percent increase over 2011.
Meanwhile, Chicopee and West Springfield followed Westfield’s lead in streamlining their administrative payroll, with Chicopee slashing .25 percent of their administrative budget. West Springfield went even further, slicing .3 off the top in 2012.
Chicopee still devoted 3.75 percent of it’s 2012 budget – $3,771,587 – to administrative costs, while West Springfield came the closest to Westfield of any large local district in 2012, dedicating 2.14 percent to administrators for a total of $1,122,713, only $374,465 less than Westfield, a district with roughly 2,000 more students.
Westfield’s efficiency is not a new trend, according to Rix.
“I know we did a study about five years ago called the DART study – District Analysis and Review Tools – which compared us to other ‘like’ communities with similar demographics,” he said, listing municipalities such as Attleboro as one of Westfield’s main comparisons. “Administrative-wise, we were lower than them on expenditures.”
For now, the district will look to continue it’s frugal ways in regards to administrative spending but Scallion acknowledges that a time may come devote a larger slice of the budget to administrators.
“At some point we may need to bring those positions back if we are building a new school,” said Scallion. “Things change over time.”
