Wichita schools: why so many employees?

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Tomorrow evening USD 259, the Wichita public school district, is holding two meetings seeking input from the public on budget matters.

Perhaps someone will ask a few questions about why spending has been increasing so fast. The trend in the number of students for each employee would be a good question. The chart below shows the trend for the number of students (full-time equivalent) for each certified employee.

Wichita students per certified school employee

Over a period of 12 school years, the number of students per employee has declined from 13.7 to 10.9. In percentage terms, that’s 20.4%. This increasing number of employees, both absolute and in terms of the number of employees per student, is expensive.

The employee count used in these calculations is “certified employees.” (For a look at all employees, click on Wichita school employee-student ratio drops.) For the 2008 to 2009 school year, here are the figures, from the Kansas State Department of Education:

Superintendent1.0
Assoc.Asst. Superintendents5.0
Administrative Assistants0.0
Principals85.0
Assistant Principals74.6
Directors/Supervisors Spec. Ed.17.0
Directors/Supervisors of Health0.0
Directors/Supervisors of Voc. Ed.0.0
Instructional Coordinators/Supervisors14.0
All Other Directors/Supervisors29.0
Other Curriculum Specialists0.0
Practical Arts/Vocational Teachers133.0
Special Ed. Teachers529.7
Prekindergarten Teachers46.0
Kindergarten Teachers200.0
All Other Teachers2,564.3
Library Media Specialists71.1
School Counselors108.9
Clinical or School Psychologists58.5
Nurses79.2
Speech Pathologists66.9
Audiologists0.0
School Social Work Services96.2
Reading Specialists/Teachers50.4
Others0.0
Total4,229.8