BackPorch

The superintendent has told us that 88% of the yearly budget is taken up with salaries and benefits for employees. Ordinarily that percentage is about 80% in other school districts and has been lower in KISD in the past. It looks to me like this is the place where, through normal attrition, the superintendent should be cutting back. There does not need to be wholesale firing of employees if a prudent course is taken over the years. The superintendent over the last three years of his employment should have been downsizing, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

The Katy school district has gone from having 20,462 students with 1,118 teachers and 64 aides in 1992 to 59,078 students with 4,058 teachers and 613 aides in 2009 to 67,213 students in 2013-2014 with 4,340 teachers and far too many support staff for the number of students that we have. There are 8,162 employees in 2013 which means that for every teacher there is another employee who is not a teacher but who exists to facilitate the existence of that teacher and the students. We have approximately three times the number of students, three times the number of teachers but TEN times the number of aides! Can anyone explain why we need so many aides? What could they possibly be doing that wasn't required in 1992 that would require such an increase? Do we really need one aide for every six teachers?? Check out this recent article on the subject telling who it is that make up these school employees who are not teachers: http://dailysignal.com/2014/08/13/maybe-johnny-cant-read-school-workers-outnumber-teachers/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_content=DD140813&utm_campaign=daily

All those employees are what are causing our budget deficits. We pay the administrators WAY too much. We need to have fewer aides, but pay them better. Do not confuse aides with clerical workers. While I'm on the subject of clerical workers, if the District hasn't evened out the number of clerical workers so that each level of schools has the same number, they need to do that.

If the administrators weren't putting their noses into everything a teacher does, I'm guessing we wouldn't need quite so many administrators.

Remember, my definition of an administrator is anyone who gets paid more than a teacher but who doesn't have daily, regular, classroom teaching contact with students. We have LOTS more administrators than are indicated on KISD charts. The District doesn't want the public to realize just how bloated their administrative bureaucracy really is.

If anyone has an answer about why we have so many aides, I'd sure like to hear it. I already know why we have too many administrators. (It's so the Katy City Council has someone to give John Wayne clocks!)

Looking back over the last twenty-two years for which there is data (1992-2014), the student population has just about tripled. There were 13 elementary schools built before 1992 and 24 after; 5 junior highs built before 1992 and 13 after; and 3 high schools built before 1992 and 4 after.

But look at the accompanying employment numbers to serve those students. Multiply the bottom line (1992) 2,146 X 3 and see what you get. And then look at the top line (2014) 8,522 and see the reality.

YEAR* Total Staff *Teachers*Professional * Central * Aides * Support * # of * Increase

Support Administrators Staff Students from prior

Staff* year

*These numbers are for the end of October of that school year. They are the PEIMS numbers and are supposed to be accurate and unchangeable. Unfortunately they get changed all the time! Please note as well that while the superintendent proclaims that we are growing by 3,000 a year, that has not happened since 2005, and the numbers continue to not be predictable and at the present time the growth number is declining. Percentage wise the increase for the District is almost half what it was in the early 2000's. Three percent growth should be much more manageable than what the superintendent indicates. MM

2016/2017 (These numbers are not available yet.)

2015/2016 9,185 4,803 845 551 808 2,461 72,725 2,599

2014/2015 9,095 4,537 796 519 736 2,329 70,126 2,913

2013/2014 8,522 4,340 724 241 750 2,467 67,213 2,964

2012/2013 7,741 4,068 642 225 681 2,129 64,249 1,835

2011/2012 7,315 3,860 583 212 641 2,019 62,414 2,154

2010/2011 7,655 3,868 505 206 683 2,391 60,260 1,816

2009/2010 7,578 843 505 218 613 2,126 58,444 2,253

2008/2009 7,240 3,914 509 219 589 2,009 56,191 2,429

2007/2008 6,774 3,670 478 206 560 1,859 53,762 3,037

2006/2007 6,505 3,421 475 196 506 1,908 50,725 2,917

2005/2006 6,092 3,198 426 192 463 1,817 47,808 3,596

2004/2005 5,618 2,910 393 225 393 1,685 44,212 2,522

2003/2004 5,149 2,802 357 164 401 1,426 41,690 2,212

2002/2003** 4,943 2,692 346 148 395 1,384 39,478 2,267

2001/2002 4,625 2,541 324 185 370 1,249 37,211 2,708

2000/2001 4,209 2,274 295 168 295 1,179 34,503 2,431

1999/2000 3,926 2,069 275 118 275 1.217 32,072 1,946

1998/1999 3,420 1,866 239 137 205 992 30,126 1,896

1997/1998 3,144 1,719 220 126 189 943 28,230 1,633

1996/1997 2,945 1,579 206 88 177 913 26,597 1,366

1995/1996 2,752 1,477 188 83 165 853 25,231 1,486

1994/1995 2,682 1,366 177 83 134 939 23,745 1,208

1993/1994***2,530 1,276 161 81 101 911 22,537 878

1992/1993 2,448 1,252 147 70 98 857 21,659 1,199

1991/1992 2,146 1,118 129 64 64 708 20,460 ----

1990/1991 (not available)

1989/1990 2,436 1,000 18,304

1988/1989 2,221 17,247

1987/1988 2,164 16,348

1986/1987 2,151 15,789

1985/1986 1,989 15,455

1984/1985 1,906 14,953

1983/1984 1,740 14,707

1982/1983 1,634 13,122

1981/1982 1,403 12,035

1980/1981 1,075 10,352

Anyone want to explain why we need so many employees? Did someone just decide that we taxpayers were all chumps and wouldn't notice what they have done? Isn't the ratio of non-teachers to students out of whack with the ratio of teachers to students? While I'm on the subject, don't believe for a minute that the proclaimed pupil/teacher ratio of 14 to 1 is what students have in their regular classrooms. That's a skewed number at best. Just for your own information, if you are a parent, ask your child to count how many other students there are in all his classes. Ask again periodically throughout the year. Parents of first through fourth graders should know that they can only have twenty-two students in a class. Complain if it gets over that number. It usually does at the end of the year.

It shouldn't take one additional employee per teacher to serve our students! I'm also guessing that aides are doing a lot of the work that teachers and administrators should be doing.

*"Professional Support Staff" are all administrators too. "A rose by any other name, still smells the same."

*** Interestingly I have run across a document given to me as a school board member which is labeled, "District Employee Categories for the 1993-1994 School Year" The chart is as follows:

Now go look at the numbers as reported (legally) to the TEA. The numbers are not the same at all! In fact there are huge discrepancies in some categories. Why would the superintendent (Hayes) have given the Board one set of numbers and the TEA another? I could be wrong about this, and if anyone wants to offer a reasonable explanation, I would love to be corrected! Mainly I feel stupid that I didn't notice the difference in 1994!

Sources: PEIMS Data, Snapshot data, AEIS Data, Katy ISD web sites and Open Records Reports. Note that these numbers are often changed after the fact, and usually no reason is given. Also data posted on the Katy ISD web site appears almost never up to date or what is in the AEIS report. Numbers last updated on this website on 4/22/2014. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/snapshot/2013/index.html