HEADS OF THE CLASS
Taking a closer look at salaries of Trumbull County superintendentsBy RAYMOND L. SMITH Tribune Chronicle
Their employers usually pay their Medicare taxes and all their retirement contributions. In one case, the employer pays for time to earn income elsewhere. In another case, the employer pays the individual's income tax.
Not counting those benefits and traditional ones, they'll earn $1,987,809.50 this year.
They are Trumbull County's 22 school superintendents, a group that the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber wants to reduce to one with some assistants.
Superintendents Kathryn Hellweg of Warren, Delmas "Wayne" McClain of the Trumbull Career and Technical Center, John Sheets of Howland and Victoria Giovangnoli of the Trumbull County Educational Service Center are the top-earning superintendents in Trumbull County with annual salaries of more than $100,000 each.
Some superintendents compare their jobs to chief executive officers of private and public companies, because they are in charge of personnel, budgets and are responsible for production. But that comparison wasn't always consistent.
''There is no comparison between the salaries of CEOs of private companies to those of superintendents,'' Giovangnoli said. "We make much less."
Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber President Thomas Humphries said the average CEO in the Mahoning Valley earns approximately $139,000 per year. He said the full range of salaries extends from about $80,000 to beyond $200,000.
Eight of Trumbull County's school superintendents earn more than $90,000 a year and six earn more than $80,000 a year. One superintendent, Lewis Strohm of the Bloomfield-Mespo School district, earns less than $50,000 a year, but he is part-time.
On average, the 22 Trumbull County superintendents earn $90,355 a year.
The Tribune Chronicle examination of superintendent salaries does not include medical benefits, which are included in all school district employee contracts. Nor does it include retired/rehired superintendents - such as Champion's Pamela Hood - whose annual salaries approach $200,000 because they are earning both retirement incomes and working salaries.
Sheets, who earns $101,594 plus a $6,000 annuity every year, said his salary and benefits are not out of line with other superintendents of school districts with approximately 3,000 students and more than 375 employees.
''Howland is one of the largest employers in the area,'' said Sheets, whose district earned the highest ranking - excellent with distinction - on the state report card. "It is an economic engine. We have one of the largest transportation systems and one of the largest food service operations. As superintendent, I'm in charge of all of those things."
THE PERKS
The majority of Trumbull's superintendents have agreements with their boards that the district will pay the employee's 10 percent contribution to the State Teachers Retirement System. The districts also pay the employer's 14 percent share.
Depending on the contract, these provisions may save each superintendent $10,000 to $15,000 a year. In addition, when the superintendents retire, the STRS provision will be counted as part of their compensation, allowing them greater retirement earnings.
Several superintendents also have life insurance policies of more than $100,000 paid by their districts, cell phones or cell phone allowances, and are provided several hundred dollars a month to compensate them for travel.
Hellweg's contract provides her with 15 days in which she can work elsewhere as a consultant or speaker for pay. If she doesn't use those days, the district pays her a per diem rate on top of her salary.
The Girard City School District pays the employee's portion of income tax for its superintendent, Joseph Jeswald.
Former Girard School Board President Philip Fisher, who signed the contract, acknowledged the board agreed to pay the FICA, but said he did not remember the reason why.
No other member of that board could be reached for comment.
SUPERINTENDENTS: 'QUITE A BARGAIN'
Hellweg said her compensation is a bargain for taxpayers.
"I am essentially the CEO of a company that has an overall $100 million budget," she said. "I am responsible for 5,600 students and in charge of more than 800 staff members. If you look at the salaries of superintendents across the state and the CEOs of companies dealing with this number of employees as well as this kind of budget, basically the Warren city schools are getting quite a bit for their investment."
TCTC's McClain, who earns $109,711.48 annually, oversees 1,088 high school and 3,000 adult students as well as 152 full-time and 350 part-time employees. He is in charge of an $18.3 million budget.
McClain said he does not earn an extreme amount.
"Based on my education, experience and the number of hours and work days I put in over a year's time, I probably make less (per hour) than the average teacher," said McClain, who oversaw a $6.4 million, 44,000-square-foot adult center construction project.
"Teachers are paid for working seven hours a day, 185 days a year. On average, I work 10 hours a day on a 260-day year."
With a base salary of $102,000, the TCESC's Giovangnoli supervises the organization that provides special education, employee testing, and student hearing tests, manages district insurance policies, sends specialized instructors and aides to individual districts, and provides other services for districts too small to cost-effectively handle internally. The TCESC has 247 full-time employees, approximately 30 part-time workers and a $42 million annual budget.
Giovangnoli said superintendent and principal salaries are not that much out of line from the per diem rate of what veteran teachers earn.
"We work more days and have a lot more responsibilities," she said.
Giovangnoli said the salaries of Trumbull County superintendents are lower than those of superintendents in nearby counties, such as Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga and Portage.
A Tribune Chronicle survey of nine school districts in Geauga and Portage shows that the average superintendent there earns $104,585.89.
CEO COMPARISON
While comparing responsibilities of CEOs and superintendents is fair in some areas - managing people, buildings and inventories, for example - Humphries suggests it is not entirely accurate. Private sector CEOs must earn money for their organizations while school district budgets are subsidized by taxpayers, he said.
''Even the CEOs of non-profits must go out and raise the amount of money they need to operate each year,'' Humphries said. "I've only seen a few districts - all outside of this area - in which a superintendent's job is based on student test results.
"YSU President David Sweet's job, for example, is based on the number of students he can attract to the university, the amount of capital he can raise, and increasing the prestige of the school," Humphries said.
He added that he can see a superintendent earning more than $200,000 a year if it were one or two for the entire county and there are improving academic ratings.
Hellweg and Sheets are in districts that, according to their five-year financial forecasts, may be facing significant debt in the next two to three years.
While Sheets has one of the top performing districts based on Ohio Report Card scores, he is concerned with the district falling into a $1.4 million debt in 2012.
"Howland is not flushed with cash," Sheets said. ''We constantly have to keep a watch on how we manage our funds and keep watching out expenditures. We can't hire new staff or offer new programs without knowing where we are getting the money to do the work."
The district faces making cuts, increasing taxes or both.
Hellweg, whose base salary is $116,696, oversees a district that faces a nearly $10 million deficit by 2013 and is one of the six worst rated districts in the state, according to Ohio's school report card.
Warren school board member Robert Faulkner said Hellweg is worth her compensation package because the board wanted a superintendent strong in academics, school construction and improving test scores. Warren began building all new schools during Hellweg's administration.
Giovangnoli said she understands how people may believe a six-figure income is a lot.
"It is a lot, but we have a lot of responsibilities," she said.
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UneducatedDrone
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11-10-09 12:31 PM
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lm.ao @ Spank (-:
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DrSpankit
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11-10-09 6:42 AM
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correct..they are making them inside new classrooms.
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jackson5
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11-09-09 8:46 PM
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Flash I fully understand what you are saying and you are not acknowledging the PROFESSIONAL status of educators. The salary increases over time as there is the expectation -as with any professional person- that you experience and growth in the field makes you more effective at what you do and more valuable to the organization. i.e. better teacher, mentor, leader etc... These folks are not making widgets on an assembly line.
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FlashGordon
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11-09-09 6:49 PM
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Jackson 5 just forget you ever read my post please, you do not even understand what I am saying and I doubt that you could!
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reader
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11-09-09 4:05 PM
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Viking 1995 Give it up the election is over. One position does not equate with the other. One stiuation could have been rectified, if necessary; but what happened to the previous superintentent at your school system was despicable. Heard the term before? Evidently others thought so too by a 2 to 1 vote.
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soot10
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11-09-09 2:07 PM
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Do not waste your money. It is not going to change. It must be changed by the Ohio House and Ohio Senate. They will never change it. Why? Because they will not risk angering the smaller districts especially in Western Ohio and South Western Ohio. Why would a politician do what would effectively have him/her defeated in the next election? Local School Districts are all that give most small rural communities their identities. The House and Senate will never mess with it. In trumbull County we have many districts that give the community a rallying point and identity. Try Bristol, Southington, McDonald, Bloomfield-Mespo, Lordstown, LaBrae, Champion, Mathews, etc.
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mcdres
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11-09-09 10:52 AM
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How long and how much money would it take to change the laws so that this could even happen? If you factor those costs in, how long would it take to actually even see any cost savings?
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soot10
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11-09-09 8:52 AM
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The point about NYC is there are the same number of high paid supts/administrators. In NYC, they simply have subordinate titles. So the one leader has the ultimate power but the Deputies do all the important/same old work they did under the old system where there was one supt. in each district. That is what will probably happen here. The only districts without a titled supt/administrator will be Bloomfield-Mespo, Southington, Bristol, and possibly McDonald. The rest of the districts will have a Deputy Supt. with a salary approximately the same as the district currently provides or even higher. This is just an attempt by Humpries to destroy LOCAL control of LOCAL districts. He needs to get off of his throne and move over to the other throne where he can do some good.
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soot10
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11-09-09 8:39 AM
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If every school district didn't need a superintendent then Bloomfield-Mespo would not be paying a part-time superintendent as they can not afford a superintendent. A superintendent is required by law. If you want to change this it would require state level action, otherwise each district wil have a superintendent. This can't be done by Mr. humphries and his anti-local school Chamber. rIt's the law.
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Longlivesummer
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11-09-09 7:50 AM
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The Regional Chamber and the Tribune should mind their own d a m n business when it come to this subject. A chamber of commerce is supposed to bring jobs and people INTO an area.. not force them to flee because children in the smaller school districts are being neglected due to the fact that ONE superintendent will need to focus on the larger schools. This is one of the STUPIDEST ideas I have ever heard!
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rbanie
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11-09-09 7:31 AM
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i believe all schools have a board of education. i don't believe every school district needs a super. example one super for every 5 schools . this would save five schools maybe 80,0000 ( or more ) a year.
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jackson5
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11-09-09 6:51 AM
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Flash you are still off base. So whatever your entry level pay is, you salary throughout your career should not deviate much from that? C'mon. That logic does not even pan out in this case. A teacher does not magically get o be a superintendent. It requires more education and more experience Administration is a different field all together so these tow can not be compared.
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jackson5
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11-09-09 6:49 AM
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AFRET - this is not the Hellweg article so my comments did not point directly to her salary and yes I am okay with the pay of the Supt's. some of the fringe bennefits need to b e addressed, obviously but to have a salar of around 100K is not outrageous. THere are teachers with just as much time in (30-35 yrs) making upwards of 70 -75K. All I'm saying is wake up and smell the coffee. And good luck on finding qualified candidates to come in to this area and do teh job for half the pay. Besides if you suggest that Supts make 50K then waht should teachers make?
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FlashGordon
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11-09-09 3:29 AM
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First off Jackson 5, read what I wrote, I'm not talking about any particular salary when I say $45,000. it's just used as an example, the example being, that if you hire into a field at $45,000, don't expect that salary to almost triple by the time you retire.
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armyvet
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11-09-09 1:00 AM
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C'mon, soot..****mon sense is your friend. Embrace it. Obviously 1 man cannot be expected to run a million student school district by himself. Of course there will be assistants. The point is this-there is only ONE person in the NYC School District that carries the title Superintendent-and his base salary is approximately $250,000. Versus Champion School District, with 3 schools, and a few hundred students...and a Superintendent making approximately $200,000. Stop getting bogged down in semantics, there's an entire FOREST right behind those bushes you are concentrating on!
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AFRET1
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11-08-09 11:19 PM
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jackson5 - you seem to support the salary, and feel that the pay is what's needed to get "qualified people" to do the job. What on earth has she done to merit the astronomical salary? Where does Warren rank in the State on tests? Why can't students walk down the hallways without fear of being attacked? I venture to say that there are a lot of people out there who would cheerfully take the position at half the pay, and do a better job with educational efforts and child safety.
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soot10
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11-08-09 10:55 PM
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The NYC having 1 superintendent is not true. There are 14 deputy superintendents with assistant superintendents under them.
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viking1995
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11-08-09 10:13 PM
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READER I don't have a problem with their salarlies, although I do think that at that salary, the superintnendents need to pay their own professional fees, their own STRS contributions, annuity fees etc. Gee READER I guess you have a problem with the way previous boards paid the ex super at Labrae then?
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jackson5
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11-08-09 9:28 PM
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Flash- You are out of touch with reality. 45K??? are you nuts? starting teacher salaries are not even 30K, especially in a district like warren. People get paid what they do based on the demand for those in the postitin. A supt has a special skill set and experiences that anyone will not have - the result is scarcity which produces high salaries. I'm not sure what you get paid but whatever it is, it is because there are qualified folk willing to do it for that amount. If pple in the valley really wanted to pay the supts less- good luck on getting qualified ppl to do the job.
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FlashGordon
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11-08-09 8:41 PM
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$45,000 per/yr I'm almost quite certain they shouldn't expect to be pulling down no $120,000 per/yr by the time they retire? This is not the private sector where your salary is set basically by you proving what your worth is. Public sector should not be this way. What if the ex CEO of Enron decided he wanted to be a superintendent, takes a drive to an affluent community, let's say Solon, talks to his buddies at the school board and makes his intentions known, lands the job but at the salary he deemed worthy of him. Probably somewhere in the realm of 1.2 million per/yr and we haven't even got to the bonuses and perks yet. See where I'm coming from?? This was not a bash at teachers, police,firefighters etc., just a bash at these subjects of this article.
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FlashGordon
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11-08-09 8:35 PM
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TBTBTB..... did not say teachers getting rich! I have no problem with fair salaries but some of this is ridiculous. She gives the numbers of what she is responsible for. All I can say is I work for a GIANT corporation and I am responsible for thousands of servers, across the nation. These thousands of servers make millions and billions of dollars yearly. just one of these servers being down could cause my company to lose hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in just a short time. I don't make anywhere near what Hellweg makes, what's the diff between me and her? Trust me, there's way more money flying by my eyes at night than she could ever imagine on any day. I know for the most part 99.9% of teachers go into teaching because they want to make a difference. That's great! Doesn't pay too much going in, and in some instances not much going out. Same with police and firefighters, i understand the risks they take but if they take the job at a starting salary of say ..
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AFRET1
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11-08-09 8:13 PM
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This defies logic. The pay may be justified in a major metropolitan area, but in WARREN? I will NEVER vote for another levy - live within your means - that means you too Ms Hellweg.
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rbanie
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11-08-09 6:14 PM
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i agree with sweetpea !!!MHS super makes too much for the amount of work. I also think the super should live in the school district in which they work. i feel they would care more about the community and possibly make different decisions. like forget about the 37 yr. levy nobody can afford, just take care of what you have.
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SweetPea
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11-08-09 4:13 PM
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we can start looking at other areas to save money, but first thing is first, and that is consolidation and colaboration of school administrations. good day.
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SweetPea
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11-08-09 4:11 PM
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hey hold it right there buddy, its doesn't have to be one super for the whole county...We could go: one "Super" per 2 districts or for the smaller disctricts maybe 3-4 Supers. Which would save a ton of money! Then once we get that ironed out.
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