Consultant:
Similar schools pay superintendents $158,125 a year
ShareThisWednesday, April 13, 2011 11:40 AM
By CANDY BROOKS
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Superintendents in districts similar to Worthington earn an average annual
salary of $158,125, plus such benefits as retirement pickups, annuities, car
allowances and bonuses.
Those figures, plus comparative figures from the private sector, will be shared
with candidates for the Worthington superintendent's position.
Ralph Johnson, of the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio (the
organization helping the board in its search for a successor for Superintendent
Melissa Conrath), presented the figures to the Worthington Board of Education
during its April 11 meeting.
Conrath will retire in October. Her current salary, after five years in the
district, is $153,824, plus benefits.
The district pays her share of the State Teachers Retirement System
contribution, which is equal to 10 percent of her salary.
Districts are required to pay 16 percent of a superintendent's salary into STRS.
The superintendent then must add 10 percent. In Worthington and in all districts
in the study, the districts pay that 10 percent.
Conrath receives an annuity of 19.4 percent of her salary in lieu of having the
district pay for her health insurance. Health insurance for her and her husband,
if the district had provided it, would have cost about $12,000 a year, she said.
Conrath receives no car or communication allowance.
Her contract calls for a 2-percent annual merit bonus, but she and the board
have agreed to forgo that bonus each year because of the financial condition of
the district.
To come up with averages from districts with similar demographics, the
consultants looked at districts in Hilliard, Dublin, Lakota, Westerville, Mason,
Strongsville, Solon and Olentangy.
The average annuity, paid in seven of the eight similar districts, is $14,905.
Five of eight districts provide car allowances, with the average being $7,600 a
year.
The average communication allowance, paid in three of eight districts, is
$1,800.
Four districts pay bonuses, with the average being $4,100 a year.
Johnson also presented private-sector figures for similar jobs.
The chief executive officer of a central Ohio private company with more than
1,200 employees earns an average of $279,583, he said. The total cash
compensation is $353,490.
A company with a budget of more than $100 million pays its CEO an average of
$267,559, with a total cash compensation of $358,222.
Johnson cited the source of the private-sector figures as the Economic Resource
Institute.
"Our superintendent should be paid in line with our salary scale of our
faculty," board member Charlie Wilson said.
Board president Marc Schare said he would like to learn more about how other
districts design their superintendents' merit-pay packages.
No further board discussion of the issue occurred.
cbrooks@thisweeknews.com
www.ThisWeekNEWS.com