The Lawrence public school district’s administrative staff is larger than those of other districts of similar size.

Or it’s not  depending on the source of information you believe.

“There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors,” said Randy Weseman, superintendent of Lawrence schools and a skeptic when it comes to national staff surveys. “I’ve tried to avoid Enron-style accounting of administrative staff.”

The “fat” that folks assume exists on school district administrative payrolls often becomes an issue when talk turns to budget cuts, hiring freezes, fee increases or school consolidation. That occurred this year in Lawrence.

Based on information generated by the National Center for Education Statistics and compiled by greatschools.net, the 10,000-student Lawrence school district had the equivalent of 31.8 full-time, district-level administrators in 2001, the most recent year for which information was available.

Districts in Iowa City, Iowa, and Chapel Hill, N.C., that enrolled about 10,000 students had fewer employees in district-level management jobs. Chapel Hill had 18, while Iowa City had just six.

‘May be taking away’

Terry Nagel, executive editor of greatschools.net, a San Francisco nonprofit online source of U.S. school information, said a basic conclusion could be drawn from these statistics.

“It’s easy to extrapolate that when you have money going to administration, it’s not going elsewhere in the district,” she said. “It may be taking away from programs that parents want.”

Districts in Kansas also appear to have a leaner bureaucracy than Lawrence, according to the center and greatschools.net.

The Shawnee Mission district’s 30,000 students were under the direction of 22 full-time central-administration staff in 2001.

Tim Rooney, manager of budget and finance in that district, said he would caution those making comparisons that placement of employees in job categories was inconsistent between districts and states. That makes comparisons difficult, he said.

At the same time, he said, the Shawnee Mission district’s administration staff numbers were typically lower on surveys than nearly any other district in the state.

“We look favorable on just about any type you do,” he said.

Other comparisons

The Blue Valley district, with 17,000 students  7,000 more than Lawrence  had 34.8 district-level administrators in 2001. That’s one administrator for every 491 students in Blue Valley, compared with one administrator for every 328 students in Lawrence.

Al Hanna, assistant superintendent of human resources in Blue Valley, said the school board’s philosophy was reflected in decisions about administrative hiring and school consolidation.

“They’ve sent a message that they’re going to run as efficient a district as they can,” Hanna said.

Kansas’ average is 281 students per district-level administrator. While Lawrence’s stood at 328 students for every official at that level, Chapel Hill had 533 and Iowa City had 1,746.

Comparable numbers for select Kansas districts: Manhattan, 715; Olathe, 713; Dodge City, 611; Kansas City, Kan., 604; Ottawa, 494; Tonganoxie, 453; Salina, 515; DeSoto, 406; Topeka, 402; Oskaloosa, 376; Emporia, 367; Leavenworth, 361; Hutchinson, 355; Perry-Lecompton, 264; Baldwin, 231; McLouth, 140; Eudora, 139.

Weseman, superintendent of the Lawrence district since 2000, said administrative staff numbers in Lawrence could be higher than in peer districts because he refused to do what other superintendents have done to conceal administrative staff.

Hiding administrators

In the past, he said, employees on nine-month teacher contracts in the Lawrence district were assigned administrative jobs and paid extra for working in the summer. On the books, they were teachers instead of administrators. Weseman moved these employees to 12-month contracts, removing them from the list of teachers.

“I think my system has integrity,” he said. “We’re trying to do the right thing.”

The Lawrence school board this year approved $3 million in budget cuts and fee increases to balance the budget. That included layoffs, but most were nontenured teachers.

Weseman said he had worked the past two years to flatten the district’s administration. The previous superintendent, he said, had two assistant superintendents. He has none.

It would be easy to look good on the greatschools.net listing, Weseman said. Dropping all references to the word “administration” from a pile of employee contracts would do the trick.

“If I wanted to play the game … in a day I could cut it in half.”