The School Down The Block

I always enjoy walking by the school down my block in lower Manhattan.  A few classroom interiors are visible from the sidewalk and the kids always seem happy and engaged.  As the school day ends, several parents gather and chat in front while waiting.  The school is private and educates about 250 students from kindergarten to 7th grade.  This is not a well-known "elite" private school, but it is located in a relatively wealthy community and the school is expensive: according to filings, they spend about $22,700 per student.  Meanwhile, the school director receives a salary of about $90,000 and the highest paid teacher (a "technology teacher") receives a salary of about $70,000.  How does this compare to the traditional public schools in New York City?  We now spend about $19,100 per pupil in traditional public schools.  The most senior teachers receive a salary over $100,000.  So we spend about 15% less on traditional public schools and about 40% more for the most senior teachers.  Of course, the most senior traditional public school teachers are not necessarily hard-to-find technology teachers, but simply the teachers that have been in the system the longest.     

Comments

[GCB]

You should find out how much the music teacher at this school makes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxlwYP0HNdc

[Ken Hirsh]

I love that video. The school is the Ron Clark Academy, a new private school in Atlanta, Georgia. It just opened this year, so their public filings don't yet reveal the top-paid employees. The filings do indicate that no one has been paid more than $50k per year during the pre-opening year. Some links:
- Their website: http://www.ronclarkacademy.com/staff.aspx
- Their wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Clark
- One of many great videos on the school: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHeBm68E06o

Note from their website that "teachers are required to spend a great deal of personal time traveling with the students, visiting homes and participating in after school programs. The Academy is not just a school, it is a family, and everyone involved is required to bring a noted amount of passion, dedication and energy to the learning environment". I doubt that would work with the Atlanta public school teachers' contract.