Ask Mr. Answer Person: "How many administrators does Decorah Community Schools already employ?"

Patti e-mails: "After reading the news report that Decorah Schools has entered into a Special Education Consortium with several other schools and is now discussing adding another administrator to handle these duties, I would like to ask, "How many administrators does Decorah Community Schools already employ; what are their duties currently; and what amount of salary monies goes to the  these administrators?"

Mr. Answer Person says: "There are eight administrators in the Decorah School District.  Superintendent Mike Haluska, Director of Technology Kurt De Vore and Facilitator of Instruction and Assessment Dana Spry work district-wide.  Decorah High School administrators are Principal Kim Sheppard and Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Adam Riley.  The Decorah Middle School Principal is Leona Hoth.  Cheryl Miller is the Carrie Lee principal and Rick Varney is principal at both John Cline and West Side.

Your question came in response to our story earlier this month (http://www.decorahnews.com/news-stories/2015/08/11565.html) about the possibility of hiring a new "Director of Special Education" position in the Decorah School District.  It's important to note that the cost of this position--if approved--would be shared by nine other school districts that are part of a consortium in NE Iowa.

As for the salaries of Decorah school administrators, they're a matter of public record, so here they are:

--Mike Haluska $160,070/year
--Kim Sheppard $114,685
--Rick Varney $96,685
--Leona Hoth $93,965
--Adam Riley $84,565
--Cheryl Miller $80,165
--Kurt DeVore $78,516
--Dana Spry: $64,780

These salaries come to a total of $773,431.  That represents 7.3 percent of all school district salaries.  When the salaries of administrative support staff are added to this figure, the total amount spent on administration comes to under $1,375,000--or less than 13 percent of all school district salaries.

There are no statewide guidelines on how much money school districts should spend on administrative salaries, but the overall guideline is that healthy school districts spend no more than 80 percent of their revenue on salaries and personnel costs.  The Decorah School District spends a total of 77 to 78 percent on personnel costs.