Aides, supporting positions proliferate at public schools
Nonteacher positions in Oklahoma public schools have grown at a faster rate than student enrollment as special education services expand, food service and transportation departments grow and changing student demographics have been met with increased hiring of social and cultural specialists.
The bulk of nonteacher growth in the state has not come from superintendents or top-level administrators, but in student support positions like speech pathologists, attendance officers and reading specialists.
Since the early 1990s, the introduction of early childhood education has resulted in more classroom aides. Growth in non-English-speaking students has brought more English Language Learner instructors and cultural specialists. And growing poverty rates also have been met with increased hiring of
counselors and program directors.
From 1993 to 2013, Oklahoma’s student enrollment increased 14 percent and teacher positions increased 13 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. During that same period, nonteacher staff positions across the state increased 34 percent.
“You can say that more administrative costs mean more money is not going to the classroom, but from the superintendent all the way down to the paraprofessionals, it’s about serving kids and their needs today,” said Craig McVay, superintendent of El Reno Public Schools.
But during a time of severe budget cuts for many Oklahoma school districts, some say nonteacher spending bloats district budgets without results to show for it.
“Taxpayers have devoted significantly more funding per public school student over many decades. These spending increases were heavily weighted toward adding personnel,” said Benjamin Scafidi, an economics professor and fellow at the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.
A Friedman Foundation report showed Oklahoma had 40,907 nonteacher personnel in 2009. If nonteacher positions had increased at the same rate as student enrollment since 1992 the number would be 35,174, saving the state $229 million annually, based on a $40,000 annual salary average for each of the nonteacher positions, Scafidi said.
“A lot of the growth we’ve seen in (nonteacher positions) has come from new special education requirements, a need for more library media specialists, counselors and important positions like that,” said Shawn Hime, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. “Those wraparound services are important for students, especially today.”
Hime said discussions about nonteacher staff growth are often centered on district superintendents, which have decreased by 14 percent since 1992 as the number of districts has declined by at least 85.
“When you look at overall superintendent numbers we have actually seen a decrease,” Hime said.
In addition to student support positions, Oklahoma has also seen a rise in administrative support personnel, especially in the area of data processing and technology support as schools have embrace new technology in the classroom and increase online testing.
Hime points out Oklahoma’s level of school administrators remain below the state-imposed cap and rank low compared to regional states. The student-to-district administrator ratio in Oklahoma is 1,238, according to data compiled by OSSBA from the National Center for Education Statistics. That ratio is higher than Texas (840), Kansas (963) and Missouri (678). Oklahoma’s ratio is also higher than the national average of 761.
“It’s hard to say we have a problem with administrative growth based on the numbers,” Hime said.
Responding to new needs
School officials said a lot of the growth in nonteacher staff is in direct response to the growth in special needs that have come with increased testing.
“With the new reading laws, we can’t send a student on to fourth grade if they can’t pass this one test,” said Mendy Klepper, education services director for El Reno schools. “If the student doesn’t pass, we have to have our school psychometrist come in and make sure there is not a learning disability. Even when a teacher knows in their gut there is not, we still have to do the work to rule it out.”
Like many school districts, El Reno has seen the number of special education students grow in recent years, which requires more student support workers who not only work directly with students, but ensure the district is meeting increased compliance requirements.
“When 20 percent of your student population is somehow qualified for special education, that requires a lot of attention beyond just teachers to make sure those needs are addressed,” said Marce’ Hotz, a speech language pathologist and special education coordinator in El Reno.
Hotz said increased poverty rates have also impacted the academic performance of students and requires schools provide more direct support and social services.
“More kids are coming from single parent families where they don’t have the time to do flash cards or study with kids at home,” Hotz said. “We have to take advantage of every educational minute we have with children because there are outside factors presenting more challenges.”
The number of Oklahoma students who are eligible for free or reduced price lunch has more than doubled since the early 1990s, special education student rates are up nearly 50 percent and the state’s English Language Leaner population has grown by 45 percent since 1998.
McVay said districts like his have also hired more technology professionals to manage the move to online testing as required by the state.
“Our IT staff has gone from one in 2013 to five people now who spend a lot of their time making sure we are prepared to test,” McVay said.
Since 2010, student enrollment in Oklahoma City Public Schools has increased by 7 percent with teacher levels rising by roughly the same percentage. Central office staffing levels have increased by 51 percent during that time as new positions related to discipline management, professional development and curriculum management have been created.
In urban school districts like Oklahoma City, high levels of poverty, English Language Learner students and social struggles have been responded to with new director positions and departments designed to support those specific student groups. But critics of administration staffing levels say the extra attention hasn’t resulted in improved results.
“I do agree that for most of American history public schools did not devote enough resources to students with special needs and minority students,” Scafidi said. “Thus, a good argument could be made that the tremendous funding increases in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s were warranted. It is not at all clear that the massive increase in staff were the right policy response.”
Scafidi said the lack of growth in academic
You can say that more administrative costs mean more money is not going to the classroom, but from the superintendent all the way down to the paraprofessionals, it’s about serving kids and their needs today.
CRAIG MCVAY
SUPERINTENDENT OF EL RENO PUBLIC SCHOOLS Taxpayers have devoted significantly more funding per public school student over many decades. These spending increases were heavily weighted toward adding personnel.”
BENJAMIN SCAFIDI ECONOMICS PROFESSOR AND FELLOW AT THE FRIEDMAN FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATIONAL CHOICE
achievement despite large increases in staffing over several years leads him to believe the growth isn’t having the intended impact.
“It is clearly time to try something else,” Scafidi said.
Some districts say the addition of nonteacher positions is a cost-saving move. Putnam City Schools created a new attendance officer position this year, which cost less than the amount paid to outsource the service to an outside organization.
“I think it’s real important to understand that what I do has a big impact on the classroom,” said John Murphey, the attendance officer for Putnam City. “When a student is in the classroom they are going to do better than if they are not. We know there is direct correlation between attendance rate and academic performance.”
The child and Family Policy Center reports 26 percent of Oklahoma eight-graders have missed at least three school days in the previous month, based on 2013 data.
Murphey, who is a former teacher, said teachers play a crucial role in the education system, but are unable to make a difference if a student isn’t in class.
“Everything I do is aimed at bringing a student to a classroom,” Murphey said. “That’s important.”
Budget cuts
While the number of nonteacher positions have grown steadily in recent years, that could change as many school districts slash budgets due to the state deficit. Both Oklahoma City Public Schools and Tulsa Public Schools — the state’s two largest school systems — have announced coming cuts to administration staff. Several school districts in the metro declined to speak in detail about nonteacher positions because they said staff reductions were likely in the coming weeks.
While school districts like Tulsa have said cuts to nonteacher positions are designed to minimize harm to the classroom, reductions in support services are likely to have an impact on students.
In El Reno, McVay said his district would not cut staff but could let positions go unfilled as they become vacant. He also said district’s across the state face a teacher shortage crisis that makes nonteacher positions even more important.
“If you have a student that needs individualized attention or other services, being able to address that situation and let the teacher remain in the classroom to teach has a big impact on the classroom,” McVay said.