Clarification: Audit concerns

August 26, 2010

An editorial in the Wednesday, August 25, edition of the News-Leader cited several allegations identified by a group originally calling for SPS to undergo a state audit. 

One allegation concerns size of the district's administrative staff. In May the News-Leader asked the school district to provide information about administrative salaries, the number of administrative positions and other related data in order to determine whether these allegations were true. That story has yet to appear in the paper. The Aug. 25 editorial reported Springfield Public Schools' student to administrator ratio but did not provide any context to show how it compares with other districts. That information is readily available on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website and/or SPS’ website.   

This PDF document contains comparison data for district administrative and teacher FTE and salaries. This was the same document shared with the News-Leader in June 2010. You can download Excel spreadsheets from DESE with student-staff ratios and faculty salaries. 

DESE uses a ratio of students to administrators to compare districts. In Missouri the the average student to administrator ratio is 187 to 1. SPS has more students per administrator with a ratio of 279 to 1. The ratio for similar sized school districts as of 2009 is 210 to 1 in Rockwood, 215 to 1 in Hazelwood, 175 to 1 in North Kansas City and 222 to 1 in Columbia. Looking at those numbers in the region, Nixa has a student to administrator ratio of 216 to 1; Republic, 224 to 1; Strafford, 154 to 1; and Logan-Rogersville, 211 to 1. Ozark and Willard both have higher student to administrator ratios than SPS.

According to this data, between 2004 and 2009, SPS reduced administrative staff by 3.6 full-time equivalent and increased teaching staff by 129 FTE. Of all the districts examined, only SPS and Pleasant Hope reduced administrative positions.

An assertion has also been made that the school district circumvented voters by building the new Hickory Hills school and funding it through lease participation financing. Lease participation financing is not an uncommon financing tool to be used by government entities. In fact, a similar use of a lease-participation and bond funding was used by Republic School District to pay for its new high school, completed last year. Springfield also used a combination of lease participation financing and voter-approved bond issues to pay for the construction of Hickory Hills. 

In 2006, Springfield voters approved a $96.5-million bond issue for air conditioning, school construction and other facility improvements. Wise investment of those dollars and effective management of construction costs resulted in funds remaining. The school board applied part of this surplus toward air conditioning three additional schools and paid $10.8 million on Hickory Hills School, a decision that reduced the operating expense of the lease-purchase agreement by almost $1 million per year. In November 2009, voters approved a bond issue, authorizing $9 million be spent to retire the Hickory Hills lease-participation agreement. 

Finally, not filling a vacant internal auditor position was a decision made during budget cuts for the 2008-2009 school year. The position is just one of several other staff and administrative positions that have been eliminated or left vacant as we have cut more than $15 million from our budget over the last three years. We expect that trend to continue for 2011-2012 as the economy continues to suffer and stimulus funding expires. 

District budgets and financial documents are available for free online. If you have questions or concerns about district budget or financial information, feel free to contact SPS at 523-INFO or send us an email at communications@spsmail.org. SPS also maintains a financial news and information blog called The Bottom Line as part of our efforts to keep the community informed.  

Category: Corrections and Clarifications

budget audit board of education finance