Superintendents drawing larger salaries locally
Taxpayers in two Quad-City school districts will likely see more of their money go to pay superintendent salaries, as school board members work to lure potential hires to their schools.
A dwindling pool of qualified district leaders and a more demanding job description have pushed up the salaries school boards must offer to draw top candidates to a district. Both Bettendorf and North Scott school districts will face that reality in the coming months as their searches for superintendents get under way.
This year alone, the Bettendorf School District had to offer almost $40,000 more than they paid their previous superintendent to land interim leader Harrison Cass Jr., who will make $168,028 in the next 11 months. Earning $706 a day, he makes more per day than Davenport’s superintendent, who is in charge of 11,000 more students and receives the highest annual salary of the superintendents in the Quad-Cities.
Gary Ray, the president of Ray and Associates, a Cedar Rapids-based search firm, said Cass’s salary as an interim will likely affect what the district has to offer a permanent replacement.
“We came to a difficult and divisive situation with our prior superintendent, and we were looking for someone who was a strong leader and well-versed with Iowa’s law and regulations and could help with team building,” said Barry Anderson, Bettendorf’s school board president. “There is not an abundance of qualified, experienced superintendents around, and that is driving up the market price.”
Bettendorf is not alone. This year, school districts in Waterloo and Sioux City both hired new superintendents, giving them salaries that reached or surpassed $190,000. For Waterloo, that figure is almost $50,000 higher than what the district previously paid, according to numbers from the Iowa Department of Education and the Waterloo School District.
The average superintendent salary among seven of Iowa’s largest school districts hit nearly $190,000 this year, an increase of almost $16,500 — or 10 percent — from the previous year.
“There is just a huge demand put on the position,” Ray said. “It’s not as attractive with a lot of the state and federal mandates. With those comes a lack of funding. Often in the superintendency, you have to change staffing or boundaries or buildings. Those are unpopular decisions but needed in order to be successful.
“That’s not to say that there are not good people out there. They have to be recruited, and districts really have to be aggressive. The days of running an ad and collecting an application — those days are over.”
Ray said districts typically tend to pay an interim superintendent less than their former superintendent, which was the case in the North Scott School District. Board members there will pay their interim leader, Dennis Rucker, almost $120,000 this school year, which is $23,000 less than former superintendent Tim Dose received.
Jack Hill, North Scott school board member, said the board looked at paying Rucker a lower salary mainly because it was a short-term commitment.
“It all depends on your circumstances,” said Rex Masterson, board president. “We got the person we thought would be the best for our district at this time and negotiated a contract we thought would be best for both sides, and now we are up and running.”
However, sometimes a district’s situation prompts school boards to offer higher salaries, which was the case in Bettendorf. But the decision to pay more may mean a higher salary for a permanent replacement, Ray said.
“Obviously, Waterloo and Sioux City are bigger than North Scott,” Ray said. “Bettendorf is going to have to be aware of what’s going in those districts and react accordingly. If they are paying $170,000 for an interim, it will send a signal. They have to take a look at what they did with the interim and the previous superintendent and factor that in when looking for a permanent superintendent.”
Sheena Dooley can be contacted at (563) 383-2363 or sdooley@qctimes.com.
By the numbers
$189,065 — Average superintendent salary in seven of Iowa’s largest districts.
$16,847 — Average pay increase of superintendents in seven of Iowa’s largest districts.
$726 — The average amount of money a superintendent in seven of Iowa’s largest districts makes in a day.
Superintendent pay in the Iowa Quad-Cities
Davenport School District
2008-09 salary: $183,375
Increase over last school year: $6,575
Days on the job this year (not including vacation, personal or sick time): 260
* Bettendorf School District
2008-09 salary: $168,028
Increase over last school year: $38,168
Days on the job this year (not including vacation, personal or sick time): 238
Pleasant Valley School District
2008-09 salary: $132,486
Increase over last school year: $5,445
Days on the job this year (not including vacation, personal or sick time): 261
* North Scott School District
2008-09 salary: $142,504
Decrease from last school year: $22,777
Days on the job this year (not including vacation, personal or sick time): 227
* Districts that hired interim superintendents this school year. Their contracts this year are shorter
than the previous year’s, under which the superintendent worked about 260 days.
A look at superintendent pay in the state’s largest districts
District 2008-09 salary Increase from previous year Days on the job this year
Des Moines $206,260 $8,522 260
* Waterloo $195,000 $48,511 260
Council Bluffs $195,000 $0 261
* Sioux City $190,000 $30,700 260
Davenport $183,375 $6,575 260
Dubuque $179,800 $13,000 261
Iowa City $174,021 $10,621 N/A
Figures for Cedar Rapids were not available.
* School districts with newly hired superintendents.