Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Kentucky's top-heavy schools

Ever seen the hull of a beached fishing boat encrusted with barnacles? If you have, you'll get an idea of what the average Kentucky school system looks like. A few years ago, a study came out showing Kentucky to have added more school administrators as a percentage of total staff than any other state over a period of about ten years. Now Susan Weston at the Prichard Committee puts figures to paper and discovers a similar problem.

See here also for the comment from the Bluegrass Institute's Dick Innes.

4 comments:

SPWeston said...

Actually, my post shows that we have fewer principals and fewer people in high central office jobs than the national average.

Kentucky schools have more people than the national average in positions like classroom aide, library aide, clerk, secretary, custodian, and bus driver.

If we're heavy, it's at the bottom, not the top.

Notice that "if." I'm not ready to say we're overstaffed just because we have additional staff. Until I know more about the work those added people do and how it relates to student needs, I don't have enough information to make that judgment.

Martin Cothran said...

Susan,

Sorry, badly chosen headline. But I will stand by the barnacles.

SPWeston said...

Yeah,I'll stipulate that barnacles are out there. My argument is merely that Kentucky's assortment isn't super-sized.

Martin Cothran said...

Got it. Thanks.