During the budget season for the North Syracuse Central School District residents have continually asked the same question.

Why doesn’t North Syracuse cut administrators?

When the district asked for a 5.33 percent tax increase, residents asked the question again. And the question was raised yet again when the budget failed and the board of education had to make $1.2 million in cuts.

Superintendent Kim Dyce Faucette said the answer is clear. The district has recently made cuts in administration and the district continues to have a smaller percentage of administrative costs compared to smaller districts in Onondaga County.

“Last year, we cut our director of information technology as well as our director of safety and security,” Dyce Faucette said. “This year, we eliminated an administrator (assistant principal) at Gillette Road Middle School and a part time director of music and art.”

In addition to making cuts, Dyce Faucette said North Syracuse, which is the largest suburban district in Onondaga County, dedicates a smaller portion of its budget to administrative costs than the second and third largest suburban districts.

In 1997, the state introduced a Three Part Budget for school districts. The purpose of the system was to provide clear and consistent information on how schools are spending their money and to allow comparison between school districts. The Three Part Budget breaks down spending into three categories: administrative, program and capital.

Administrative costs include expenses for the superintendent, administrative personnel, the district office and other costs associated with administrators.

For the 2013-14 school year, the North Syracuse’s administrative costs represent 7.38 percent of the district’s total budget. Program costs represent 76.93 percent and the capital costs represent 15.69 percent. The district’s percentage for administrative costs was 8.24 percent 10 years ago, and 9.56 percent in the 1997-98 school year.

“We have reduced administrative costs by more than 2 percent and added that to our program costs,” said Don Keegan, the district’s assistant superintendent for management.

For the upcoming school year, Liverpool, the second largest suburban school district in Onondaga County, has an administrative percentage of 8.57 percent and Baldwinsville, the third largest district, has an administrative percentage of 8.19 percent.

North Syracuse spends a smaller percentage of its expenditures on administrative costs compared to the other two districts and actually spends less on administrative costs compared to Liverpool, which has nearly 2,000 fewer students.

In 2013-14, Liverpool will spend $11,638,130 on administrative costs and North Syracuse will spend $10,592,217.

North Syracuse employs a building principal at each of its 11 buildings and each of the middle schools have one assistant principal. The junior high school has two assistant principals and the high school has three assistant principals.

The district employs 1,400 people and has more than 9,000 students. Administrators at the district office include five non-union leaders, including the superintendent, and six directors. There are are also two assistant directors in the special education department.

The special education department oversees all of special education and compliance, as well as student support services and counseling for the district.

Here is a breakdown of the five non-union leaders and six directors:

The district requires that documentation of employees’ salaries be obtained using a Freedom of Information request. That process could delay the release of the information beyond Tuesday when the public votes on the revised budget. The following salaries were obtained on See Through NY, a government watchdog website, which lists salaries and contracts of public school district employees.

Kim Dyce Faucette – superintendent of schools. Dyce Faucette will earn a salary of $182,000 in the 2013-14 school year, according to the budget.

Dan Bowles – associate superintendent for teaching and learning
Major responsibilities are elementary school operations, middle school operations and universal pre-kindergarten.
Bowles earned $121,192 in 2012, according to See Through NY.

Don Keegan – associate superintendent for business services
Major responsibilities are the budget, instructional technology, maintenance and operations, security and safety, transportation and food service.
Keegan earned $60,169 in 2012 according to See Through NY. Keegan was only in the district for half of the year during the 2011-12 school year.

Dawn Wilczynski – assistant superintendent for instruction
Major responsibilities are Main Street School, home schooling, high school operations, junior high school operations, music and art education, Native American education and summer school.
Wilczynski is new to the district and her salary is not listed on See Through NY.

Annette Speech – assistant superintendent for educator effectiveness and human resources
Major responsibilities are human resources, labor relations, negotiations, staff recruitment and Title IX.
Speech earned $137,030 in 2012, according to See Through NY.

Donna Marie Norton – executive director for data and accountability
Major responsibilities are registration/enrollment, attendance, data analysis, student management systems, testing and evaluation.
Norton earned $111,890 in 2012, according to See Through NY.

Valerie DiFlorio – executive director for diverse learning and student support
Major responsibilities are alternative programs, business education, counseling/psychological services, dignity for all students, homebound instruction, special education instruction and superintendent’s hearings.
DiFlorio earned $102,800 in 2012, according to See Through NY.

Janice Ahlsen – director of ELA/social studies
Major responsibilities are academic intervention services, English language arts, social studies, English as a second language, kindergarten screening and languages other than English.
Ahlsen is new to the district and her salary is not listed on See Through NY.

John Rice – director of science, technology and math
Major responsibilities are academic intervention services, family and consumer science, math, science and technology education.
Rice earned $110,392 in 2012, according to See Through NY.

Alicia Pizzuto – director of educator effectiveness, training and library media
Major responsibilities are library services, multicultural education and professional development.
Pizzuto earned $102,832 in 2012, according to See Through NY.

Timothy Bednarski – director of athletics and co-curricular
Major responsibilities are athletics, co-curricular programs, health education, health services, physical education and safety education
Bednarski earned $77,615 in 2012, according to See Through NY.

Salaries of these administrators are comparable to salaries of administrators at other districts in Central New York. To compare salaries with other districts, visit See Through NY’s website.

Unfunded state mandates on school districts are just one of the reasons that North Syracuse feels the district needs to keep its administrative team.

Dyce Faucette said mandates have “consumed a lot of resources, time and attention over the last school year.”

“We are burdened by an overwhelming number of mandates and the related training, tracking and reporting required to stay in compliance with state requirements,” she added.

© 2013, Syracuse Post-Standard