Try county superintendents

Regarding “Reducing school districts a tough sell” (News, Sept. 30): Oklahoma has about 520 school districts, each having a superintendent, many having staff and between one and 11 assistant superintendents. The cost of these officials alone is over $59 million per year. All state, county and city employees and officials, including teachers, earn according to a published progressive pay schedule. Many superintendent and assistant superintendent positions could be eliminated if a county school board system were initiated, thus increasing the available funds for student instruction. A standardized progressive pay scale for districts with student populations under 40,000 should be applied to those positions ranging from $85,000 to $250,000 for superintendents and $63,750 to $187,500 for assistants, with one superintendent per county and one to six assistants bases upon a graduated scale of students in the district. This would cost an estimated $35.63 million.

Districts with over 40,000 students would continue outside this system and would allow for superintendent and assistant superintendent salaries and benefits packages to be negotiated with each respective county school board. Excluding the four largest districts with student populations over 40,000 students, this program could save an average of over $203,000 per year (before benefit costs) to the remaining 73 school districts. The cost per student for superintendents/ assistants under the current system ranges from $3.14 to $138.34. Under the county school board system, this disparity would be reduced to $3.40 to $24.68.

Donald Newsom, Oklahoma City