Are Warwick school salaries excessive?

Schools would save $8.1M in under Cranston contracts, report finds

by ETHAN HARTLEY
Posted 2/21/19

By ETHAN HARTLEY If school faculty and staff in Warwick were paid under the same contractual rates as those positions in Cranston, Warwick would save about $8.1 million in salary costs. Including fringe benefit costs, that number creeps closer to $9.7 million...

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Are Warwick school salaries excessive?

Schools would save $8.1M in under Cranston contracts, report finds

Posted

If school faculty and staff in Warwick were paid under the same contractual rates as those positions in Cranston, Warwick would save about $8.1 million in salary costs. Including fringe benefit costs, that number creeps closer to $9.7 million.

That’s according to a recently reported analysis that came off the wake of a larger program audit conducted by Robert Hicks and Thomas Conlon that was finalized in August of 2018. In addition to being tasked with assessing the district’s financial situation, the two were charged to take Warwick’s staffing budget for FY19 and “re-price” it according to the salary terms within Cranston’s school department.

To be clear, the analysis does not make a direct comparison to Cranston in terms of the number of staff in each category and which city had more or fewer. It merely counted the staffing levels within the Warwick school system and its corresponding cost, then calculated how much an equal level of staffing would cost under salaries, step raises and other provisions outlined in Cranston’s collective bargaining agreements and contracts. To do this, Hicks and Conlon compared similar staff positions, taking into consideration things like career longevity and step increases.

Top level administrators in Warwick (comprised of 42.5 full time equivalents, or FTEs) and mid-tier administrators constituted a combined $111,000 in higher costs compared to Cranston’s structure. The overall budgetary cost is around $5.6 million in Warwick and $5.5 million in Cranston for these two groups.

Professional personnel united under the Warwick Teachers’ Union account for the vast majority of differences in costs, as shown by the report. The FY19 budget allots over $72.6 million for WTU staff, whereas they would be paid only $67.2 million under Cranston’s contractual figures – a $5.4 million difference.

Personnel in the WISE union account for $13.7 million in Warwick’s budget, but would cost $2.6 million less with Cranston’s contractual figures. All combined, staffing costs $8.19 million more in Warwick than it would cost in Cranston, according to the analysis.

The major differences are further broken down in the report. For example, Cranston actually pays principals at the junior high/middle school and elementary levels more than in Warwick. High school principals are paid about the same, but assistant principals account cost about $40,000 in Warwick than they would in Cranston.

Union positions highlight more extreme differences in pay for similar roles. The 14.8 FTEs for department supervisors in Warwick cost about $1.48 million in Warwick, but would cost about $370,000 less in Cranston. Every other position, from guidance counselors, librarians, psychologists, reading teachers, school nurses, social workers and general education teachers all cost more in Warwick than they would in Cranston.

General education teachers would cost nearly 7 percent less using Cranston contracts than in Warwick, a total difference of about $3.36 million.

WISE Union staff, similarly, has a majority of positions being paid more in Warwick than similar positions in Cranston. Some notable figures represented in the analysis include Warwick paying $22,000 more for one “admin software liaison,” nearly $40,000 more for three groundskeepers, around $36,000 more for three “maintenance helpers,” and more than double the $83,000 it would cost in Cranston to pay three painters approximately $168,000 in Warwick.

The analysis did not include what it would cost to provide fringe benefits for these positions, which finance director Anthony Ferrucci calculated to cost around $1.52 million on top of the nearly $8.2 million in salary costs, the total calculated difference between Warwick and Cranston – which does not pay into social security pensions for its school staff – amounts to about $9.72 million.

“I’m hoping this data answers some of the City Council's questions as to why we're not closer to Cranston,” Ferrucci said during an interview Tuesday.

Also attached to the report is an analysis conducted by Ferrucci on the pay increases received by Warwick Teachers’ Union members, WISE members and Warwick administrators. From FY11 to FY19, Ferrucci shows WTU staff have received a compounded 14.2 percent pay increase, while WISE staff have received a 13.8 percent increase, and administration employees have received the lowest raise at 10.1 percent compounded since FY11.

Warwick Teachers’ Union president Darlene Netcoh said that she would have to look into the numbers as provided in the report, specifically the final page which shows the percent raises given to each group of employees. She contented that teachers effectively received a 2.75 percent raise instead of 3 percent in FY18, as they went a month before the raises took effect in October that year.

“I would also dispute these admin zeroes,” she said, referring to the years where the administration was listed as getting 0 percent raises. “I'll have to go back and look.”

When asked what she thought about the comparatively high salaries received by WTU and WISE staff, Netcoh responded by pointing out that the district’s administration receives higher compensation as well – although this is not true across the board, as demonstrated earlier in this article.

“I take anything from them with a grain of salt,” she said. “If they say the teachers' salaries are higher or WISE positions are higher, well so is the salary of our superintendent, our director of human resources, all of them too. Why are our administration salaries higher than Cranston’s?”

“Both reports speak for themselves,” Ferrucci writes in the report summary, which was presented to the Warwick School Committee during their recent meeting on Feb. 14.

Comments

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  • richardcorrente

    Back in 2015 I did a comparison of all positions in Cranston and Warwick and learned that Cranston is less than Warwick in every category from the Mayor to the tax clerks; from the teachers to the janitors. Their taxes are also less, by about the same percentage. (about 20%). I'm not saying it is better or worse, but it is a LOT less. I credit this difference to be a major reason that taxpayers are moving out of Warwick and into Cranston. Maybe Warwick should do something to attract more taxpayers, like "Cut Taxes - Cut Spending". Maybe not.

    For your information.

    Happy St. Patricks everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Thursday, February 21, 2019 Report this

  • BeaconCommenter

    Here come the same recycled comments from the same recycled people

    Thursday, February 21, 2019 Report this

  • Thecaptain

    Of 14,000 school districts nationwide, Warwick teachers rank in the top 3 percentile for the highest salaries and benefits. On the contrary, they produce some of the lowest scoring students in the country. Salary structure should be commensurate with results.

    Thursday, February 21, 2019 Report this

  • Cat2222

    It isn't like you can put Pandora back into the box. It isn't like we can do a wholesale reduction in salaries for all Warwick teachers and administrators. I did chuckle at the diversion from Netcoh. "Yeah, but did you see over there?"

    Thursday, February 21, 2019 Report this

  • Thecaptain

    Cat,

    People whose argument is based upon a logic of accepting poor behavior by citing examples of worse behavior are people whose argument is over before it begins. That is the typical position of the Warwick city worker. Justify and condone poor behavior by giving examples of worse behavior. This argument leaves me speechless.

    Thursday, February 21, 2019 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    so, we is going to base our argument on the fact that cranston doesn't pay enough to its workers

    Friday, February 22, 2019 Report this

  • VoWarwick2017

    We pay more, we should have a better educational product than we are getting.

    Are we the tax payers going to just whine about it or are we going to stop voting for the same old faces?

    Friday, February 22, 2019 Report this

  • DannyHall82

    Unfortunately this City is Handcuffed from 25-30 years of kicking the can down the road and handing out irresponsible contracts that the City knew it couldn’t afford. Back in the early 90s the School Committee recommended that we start closing schools from the decline of students, the WTU fought it and the City Council turned its back on the School Committee. Instead of making decisions that aren’t popular but are for the better of our Students and City our elected officials make decisions that will help them get re-elected. Along with that we had a Mayor and some on the City Council that leveled the School budget for 18 years( meaning the schools didn’t get an increase in tax revenue). While the City budget got all new tax dollars year after year. That money could’ve been used to update and build new schools, invest in new technology. I truly feel we have some of the best teachers In the State and it’s easy to point fingers at them or the administration. I’m guilty of it, who we really should be holding accountable are our City Officials who we continue to elect year after year.

    Friday, February 22, 2019 Report this

  • davebarry109

    WE cannot continue to give 3% raises every year. Even the teachers and firefighters must realize their own pensions will be in jeopardy if we continue down this path. The city will eventually have too much debt to handle.

    Friday, February 22, 2019 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    Dear Daveberry,

    At a billion dollars in debt the City already HAS too much debt to handle.

    But it's not caused by measly 3% raises. Our pension system needs a major reform. I proposed what Texas did which was a win-win-win for them. The taxpayers, the retirees, and the Texas government officials benefitted by "pension buyouts" that were voluntary. It worked there. It will work in Warwick.

    Happy St. Patricks Dave.

    Happy St. Patricks everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    The Taxpayers Mayor

    Saturday, February 23, 2019 Report this

  • perky4175

    warwick teachers are over paid for what they do kids today can not even figure out change if they dont have somthing to do it with saw one kid counting on his fingers

    Tuesday, February 26, 2019 Report this

  • perky4175

    warwick teachers are over paid for what they do kids today can not even figure out change if they dont have somthing to do it with saw one kid counting on his fingers

    Tuesday, February 26, 2019 Report this

  • ThatGuyInRI

    The Captain:

    1. I am not a Warwick teacher, but I do have kids in the system.

    2. Comparing Warwick teacher's salary to the national average is pointless. The guy making fries at McDonalds in

    Warwick is making way above the national average for making fries. Pretty much every person living in RI makes well

    above the national average for whatever it is they do; so your point lacks merit.

    3. The cost of living index for Rhode Island is 122.5, the national average is 100

    https://www.missourieconomy.org/indicators/cost_of_living/

    4. If you want to compare Warwick teacher's salaries, compare them to other comparable communities maybe

    Cranston, E.P. N.P.? I've no idea what teachers in those communities make but you have to compare apples to

    apples. A $300K house in Georgia is a mansion, here it's nothing special ya know?

    Tuesday, February 26, 2019 Report this

  • BeaconCommenter

    Perky with the dumbest take of all time. Congrats!

    Tuesday, February 26, 2019 Report this

  • perky4175

    teachers are over paid the kids today dont even no how to figure out change unless the have somthing to do it for them

    Saturday, March 9, 2019 Report this

  • perky4175

    teachers are over paid the kids today dont even no how to figure out change unless the have somthing to do it for them

    Saturday, March 9, 2019 Report this