Committee: K-L Per-Pupil Spending, Teacher Pay Higher Than Comparable Districts

Tonight the Katonah-Lewisboro finance committee will present data at the school board meeting that indicates the district's per-pupil spending is the highest in a group of six comparable districts and teacher salaries are second-highest.

At $106 million, KLSD's 2010-11 school spending (adjusted for enrollment trends) represents $27,988 per pupil, their analysis finds.

The committee report, posted on the district's website with tonight's meeting agenda, is posted with this story.

The per-pupil costs are higher than the five other comparison districts used for their study—Harrison, Bedford, Scarsdale, Byram Hills, and Chappaqua—and are 6.7 percent above the average of the comparison districts.

The committee's analysis also found K-L professional compensation was ranked second highest in the group—and 3.6 percent above the comparison average.

Using data from See Through New York, a web portal for analyzing and comparing public data, the committee found Scarsdale topped the list with teacher salaries averaging $125,000; K-L was second at $110,000 and Bedford ranked lowest with salaries in the $98,000 range.

When adjusting for level of teacher experience, K-L ranked second again, at $112,000, behind Scarsdale's $115,000 and higher than Bedford's adjusted salary average of $110,000.

The committee also looked at information available through Putnam Northern
Westchester Contract analysis, and found KLSD ranked 8th highest for salaries in a group of 42 districts.

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The latest finance committee report follows their when they first showed that the K-L district, at $27,197 per student, spent the highest among the group of comparison school districts. At the time, the committee said the spending levels were primarily because of the district's instruction, benefits and transportation costs.

Following that report, the finance committee committed to an annual review of per-pupil costs plus further study on why professional compensation and employee benefits appeared to be higher than comparable districts.

Among other steps to ensure comparability, the committee used audited financial statements and selected comparison districts of a similar size that offered a similarly high-quality education.

Tonight's discussion will include an analysis on the affordabilty of living in the K-L district as compared to the others and a deeper look at real estate values and voting trends in this district as compared to other districts.

The school board meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at the