📜 LADY BUDGETDOWN: ST. CHARLES: A SUPERINTENDENT TRANSITION

The St. Charles ledger has another interesting page.

This time we're looking at the district's 2024–25 Employee Compensation Information, and this one requires a little context. 🔎

St. Charles had two superintendent periods during the fiscal year:

Superintendent: July 1–December 31, 2024

Interim Superintendent: January 1–June 30, 2025

So rather than treating this as two full-year $100,000+ employees, we're going to show you exactly what the district reported for each period.

💰 FIRST SUPERINTENDENT
For the first six months:
Base Salary: $58,355.63
Total Medicare Earnings: $73,756.58
Employer Insurance Cost: $11,538.99
Mandatory Benefit Costs: $34,528.88
Total Compensation: $119,824.45

One item particularly stands out:
$19,792.39 - Vacation & PTO Payout

That's approximately 33.9% of the $58,355.63 base salary reported for that six-month period.

💰 INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT
For the second half of the fiscal year:
Base Salary: $53,100.00
Total Medicare Earnings: $53,100.00
Employer Insurance Cost: $0
Mandatory Benefit Costs: $5,915.36
Total Compensation: $59,015.36

🧮 PUT THE TWO PERIODS TOGETHER

Across the full 2024–25 fiscal year, the two superintendent periods totaled:
Base Salary: $111,455.63
Total Medicare Earnings: $126,856.58
Total Compensation: $178,839.81

Again, those figures represent two different superintendent periods covering the fiscal year, not one employee's annual compensation.

📜 THE TAKEAWAY

This is exactly why context matters when reading public compensation records.

A quick glance at the title - "District Superintendent & Staff Whose Salary Exceeds $100,000" - doesn't tell the whole story.

The underlying table does.

St. Charles experienced a superintendent transition during the year, and the district separately disclosed the compensation associated with each period.

No combining two people and pretending it's one salary.

No calling two partial-year employees $100K+ earners when the numbers don't show that.

And no ignoring that $19,792.39 PTO payout, either. 😉

Just showing taxpayers what was paid, when it was paid, and what the district's own records actually say.
That's how we read the ledger.

With receipts and respect. 🪶

St. Charles Community Schools

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