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You think teachers are underpaid in South Dakota? Our schools' IT guys (and some gals!) don't fare much better. The SD-blogosphere-spanning commentary about Madison Central's IT troubles with those darn kids prompted a check of salaries for the IT personnel.
Madison Central's technology director, Todd Beutler, is listed as classified personnel, along with the other support/non-instructional staff. Beutler is the highest paid among the classified personnel, earning $19.92 an hour (up 42 cents an hour from last year). Now compared to teachers, Beutler does pretty well. If we assume he works 40 hours a week for 50 weeks, his annual wage comes to $39,840, $4,000 more than Madison's average household income, a good $5,000 better than the average wage for teachers statewide, and by my extrapolation from the most updated figures the state Dept. of Ed. offers, at least a couple thousand better than the Madison Central average teacher pay. Plus, he works on the clock, not the contract, so one may assume he gets overtime when the kids make extra work for him.
Ah, but let's not compare apples and rutabagas; let's put all our IT apples in one basket and see who's shiniest. Look up "Network and Computer Systems Administrators" on the SD Dept. of Labor's wage estimate database, and you'll find the statewide average salary for such jobs is $24.44 an hour. It's just about a quarter higher -- $24.67/hr -- in the "East" region to which Lake County belongs, and another two bits higher -- $24.93/hr -- in the Sioux Falls metroplex. Just an hour away, it appears Beutler could make $10K more a year (and not have to put up with, among other things, his salary being a matter of public record).
Consider also that Beutler's 42-cent-an-hour raise this year comes out to $840 more for the year. That's just a bit more than two bucks for each of the nearly 400 new Tablet PCs that got dumped onto his network and that he gets to reformat this week. Anyone care to guess how much they'd pay a private specialist to do the same job on 400 computers?
There are lots of us who can look at the Madison Central technology directors wages and say, "Boy, wish I was making that kind of money!" But for those like Beutler who have the talent and training to do such work, public service remains at the low end of the opportunity scale. And on days like these when his work is subject to such public scrutiny and criticism, particularly from angry parents wondering why their kids are being punished so harshly for what some say is an easily preventable security breach, an extra $10K a year in the comfortable seclusion of private industry must look really good.
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9 hours ago
Something to take into consideration when comparing Todd's salary to that of the teachers. His is a year-round job. When the students and teachers are done, he works the hardest to get things back up to snuff and get the technology ready for the next year and I would wager most weeks, 40 hours just isn't enough to get everything done between him and his assistant. He may get paid more, but he's definitely underpaid for what he does.
ReplyDeletePrecisely why it's more useful to compare his salary to other network admins rather than teachers.
ReplyDeleteOf course, as classified staff, if he works more than 40 hours a week (and you're right -- 40 hours probably isn't enough to get everything done!), he gets paid overtime, right? That's a key difference between the classified (hourly) and the professional (salaried) staff.
"underpaid for what he does" -- exactly! How long will the SD education system continue to luck out and get good people on the cheap? How long do we want to keep gambling that people will work for the schools and sacrifice their financial well-being out of the kindness of their hearts?
ReplyDeleteLet's keep in mind all that he does have to do. This summer was spent getting those 400 Tablet PC's ready and getting the entire High School ready for the wireless world and installing projectors in all the classrooms. But that sounds like a pretty easy summer when you compare the fact that he had to wire and network an entire school last summer.
ReplyDeleteTodd works his tail off, never takes a day off and hasn't had a vacation in over two years, and I don't believe he requests extra pay for all those hours above his contracted 40 per week. He's a trooper and tremendous supporter of the District he works in. The biggest worry is that he'll burn out because he's so dedicated. Years ago, before hiring a tech coordinator, the District used to pay a Sioux Falls firm over $5000 a month for computer repairs and you were always at the mercy of their schedule. This is so much more efficient for Madison's school district.
ReplyDeleteExactly: SD schools make ends meet by taking advantage of nice guys with great work ethics who don't fight for the pay they deserve. Beutler sounds just like the teachers: underpaid, overworked, sacrificing and sticking with the job out of sheer dedication.
ReplyDelete