ROCKFORD: STEP 3 THE $100,000+ LEDGER
Dearest readers... we have arrived at that particular page of the ledger where the numbers tend to require a little more ink. 👑🪶
Rockford Public Schools has posted its Calendar Year 2025 compensation report for employees with wages greater than $100,000.
And there are 71 of them.
Combined salary, FICA/Medicare, retirement and insurance for those 71 positions:
💰 $13,616,313 in total compensation.
Now, before anyone starts clutching the pearls, teachers are included in that number.
And your Lady is certainly not going to pretend otherwise simply because it would make for a more dramatic headline.
But we're looking specifically at the administrative side of the ledger today. 👀
At the very top:
👑 Superintendent
Salary: $317,495
Total compensation: $462,406
Then Rockford reports not one, not two, but three Assistant Superintendent positions:
🪶 Assistant Superintendent
$228,346 salary
$346,532 total compensation
🪶 Assistant Superintendent
$214,878 salary
$328,642 total compensation
🪶 Assistant Superintendent
$195,274 salary
$309,729 total compensation
Together, the superintendent and three assistant superintendents account for:
💰 $1,447,309 in total compensation.
And then your Lady started counting titles containing the word "Director."
There are 12 director-titled positions among the employees appearing on the $100,000+ report.
Combined compensation for those positions:
💰 $2,416,417.
Now remember what our previous staffing ledger showed.
Over the decade, Rockford's total administrative FTE actually declined 4.6%.
But underneath that total, the location of those administrators changed considerably:
District/central administration: +42.9%
School/building administration: −22.9%
And now we have the compensation page sitting beside it.
Does a large salary automatically mean someone is overpaid?
No.
Does the word "Director" automatically mean a position is unnecessary?
Also no.
Your Lady doesn't decide whether a job is valuable by counting words on an organizational chart.
But 12 director-titled positions, three assistant superintendents, $1.45 million in compensation among the four superintendent-level positions, and a 42.9% decade-long increase in central administrative FTE certainly give us some context for the next pages of the ledger.
And context, dearest readers, is precisely why we keep turning pages. 👑🪶
With receipts & respect.
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