Tired of hearing Rocky Kirk saying: “We are experiencing all of the pains of a high growth school district?”
Rocky even says: “The opportunity to serve as superintendent of Lake Travis ISD has been the most challenging, yet rewarding professional experience of my life. This once, sleepy resort community west of Austin has awakened to find itself in the midst of tremendous growth, and the 5,200 students we now serve will grow in number to 13,000 over the next ten years.“
Here are some charts of LTISD data compiled from information available from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) web site. The charts show relevant LTISD data between 1991 and 2006:
Year-to-Year Enrollment Increases, note that the average yearly enrollment increase has been 233 students and enrollment has not met the geometric growth pattern predicted by the LTISD
Teacher Turnover Rate, note that the teacher turn over rate has recently decreased since 2001. Interesting to see this trend since I have been blamed for the district’s poor teacher morale, yet the turnover rate has decreased! You may observe that the turnover rate tends to move in concert with economic conditions.
District Expenditures Per Student
Expenditures and Student Enrollment
Year-to-Year Enrollment & Expenditure Changes
Here are some example charts of just how the LTISD compares to a true “high growth” school district. In this exercise, I will compare the LTISD to the Round Rock ISD from 2001 through 2006 and in some cases through 2007.
Again, I used data available via the Internet from the Texas Education Agency (TEA):
Student Enrollment, note that Round Rock ISD grew at 5.5 times the rate of the LTISD!
Number of Schools Built, note that Round Rock ISD is scheduled to build 8 schools in 2008. Contrast this to the one school built by the LTISD and it is a year late.
Superintendent’s Salary, note that the Round Rock ISD superintendent’s salary grew at only a 53% rate compared to 85% for the LTISD. Contrast this to the fact that the Round Rock ISD student population grew 5.5 times faster than that of the LTISD!
Superintendent’s Salary Per Student, note that as the number of students in the Round Rock ISD increased the superintendent’s salary kept pace at a fairly constant rate averaging $5/student while the salary to student ratio of the LTISD superintendent has steadily increased to the rate of about $40/student today!
Average Teacher Salary, this data assumed from the LTISD profile that the average teacher experience was 10-11 years. Note that the Round Rock teachers faired better than the LTISD teachers over the same time frame and surpasses that of the LTISD in 2007!
Lake Travis ISD Superintendent & Teacher Salary, sharp contrast of the difference that the Board places on the value of the people who “make the rubber meet the road” and those who administrate. Recently there has been discussions of making pay teacher commensurate with performance. Does the same principle extend to superintendent’s pay? Guess not.
Did you know that the LTISD had to go to the Eanes ISD to get documents to fulfill a public information request*? »« Did you know the capacity utilization of our schools?
