H.S. Coaching salaries/supplements

[Upstatesfinest]

I'm beginning to work on a project about high school coaching salaries.

In our area, the largest district in the county is only the third-highest paid, and the coaches got their first supplement raise last year for the first time in 21 years. One coach has slipped me some 2005-06 numbers from across the state, but how would you get additional info from the school board? My first guess is they would deny any FOI request under the personnel umbrella like they do with coaching searches. Is there another route to get updated figures, other than an anonymous source?

How would you get a straight answer on why it takes 21 years to get a raise?

 

[fishwrapper]

I'm beginning to work on a project about high school coaching salaries.

In our area, the largest district in the county is only the third-highest paid, and the coaches got their first supplement raise last year for the first time in 21 years. One coach has slipped me some 2005-06 numbers from across the state, but how would you get additional info from the school board? My first guess is they would deny any FOI request under the personnel umbrella like they do with coaching searches. Is there another route to get updated figures, other than an anonymous source?

How would you get a straight answer on why it takes 21 years to get a raise?

State employees' salaries are public record.
Good place to start would be the union. If their members haven't had a raise in 21 years, they would be happy to provide you with information.

 

[Walter Burns]

Typically, the supplemental contracts are voted on by the board in public. Check the board minutes or old agendas -- those should be fairly readily available.

 

[txsportsscribe]

where the heck would public high school coaching salaries be exempt from public disclosure?

 

[John Casper Jr.]

If you file an FOI with the school district's human resources department, they should be able to get you the information in 2 weeks, tops.

Also, be sure to ask for an explanation of the salary schedule. Some of the spreadsheets may be a bit confusing.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Two weeks? I don't know what the law is where upstate is, but in my state it's 72 hours. I'll say this: If you're going to FOI it, don't limit yourself to a small sampling. Make sure you get every supplement for every coach at every school. And beg, steal, and borrow room to put every one of them in the paper in one form or another.

 

[crimsonace]

Heck, our school system posts it online, along with the master contract.

When I was offered a job to teach at a different school system, their salary schedule (including extracurricular/coaching stipends) was also posted on their website.

You might want to check the websites of area school corporations ... many make it freely available (and you can check the data you get from the FOI request from the contract). And, yes, the teacher's unions are also *great* places to look for info. They're almost always willing to provide it.

 

[I'll never tell]

Watch out when doing this, because if begin comparing salaries, it's apples and oranges.

If you look at the overall number, you must also look at the level of education of each coach. If he has a masters, ede, eds, blah, blah, blah.

Not even the coaches take those things in mind. They'll just gripe about how they're not making as much as the next guy, then it turns out they don't have a certification for crap -- just rolling the balls out come P.E. time.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

The highest-paid teacher (as opposed to school administrator) in my state is a football coach with a PhD who has 30 years in. He teaches personal fitness, I think.