House leader wants school districts to report total salaries, benefits

~ A Cape school board member said the proposed punishment for failing to file the information is too harsh.

A key leader in the Missouri House wants school districts to report the total compensation for their top administrators.

State Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, has proposed legislation that would require school districts to report salaries, benefits and other compensation received by each school administrator, from superintendant to assistant principal, as well as to the highest paid teaching position and the average for all classroom teachers.

Compensation, as defined by House Bill 771, would include housing and auto allowances, entertainment allowances, club memberships, cell phone service, buyout clauses, pay-for-performance goals, donations from school foundation and any cash, credit or other services received in connection with the job.

Districts also would have to report how many of their schools achieved adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act in all student groups, how many of the 14 "district report card" state standards they met, and the percentage of certificated classroom teachers in their first year of employment with the district.

"It is simply an accountability thing," Bearden said of the legislation that would create the "Superintendent Targeted Achievement Record" or STAR program.

Districts would have to report that and other information to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by Sept. 1 of each year or risk losing accreditation.

Failure to file the information would result in a lowered state accreditation. A school district would lose its accreditation entirely for failing to file the annual report for a second time within three years, according to the legislation.

Under the bill, DESE would have to post the information on its Web site, and school districts would have to post Internet links from their Web sites to the DESE site.

'Mean spirited'

The Missouri School Boards' Association, based in Columbia, Mo., opposes the bill. So does Cape Girardeau school board member Steven Trautwein, who calls the legislation "mean spirited."

Trautwein said the proposed punishment for failing to file the information is too harsh. "I think it is heavy handed. I feel it is bullying districts," he said.

Brent Ghan, Missouri School Boards' Association spokesman, said state accreditation shouldn't be tied to the filing of a report.

"It ought to hinge on how well the students are learning," he said.

But Bearden said it's important to tie accreditation to filing the report to make sure school districts comply.

Trautwein and Ghan argued that most of the information requested is public information that's available to the public if requested.

They said they see no need for the legislation.

But Bearden said residents don't know how to obtain the information or request records under provisions of Missouri's Sunshine Law. "None of that is readily available," he said.

School districts may disclose administrator salaries, but they often don't disclose total compensation, Bearden said.

"I think the taxpayers of a district have the right to have access to that information without trying to figure out the ins and outs of the Sunshine Law," he said.

Bearden said he and other lawmakers who support the bill simply want school districts to be more accountable to the public and taxpayers.

"It is a pretty common sense, pretty straight forward measure," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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