(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Many in the community have asked KCE to publish salaries for the administrators at KUSD. You asked – we delivered.
Here is the text of our request to the district:
“Any documents or combination of documents in the possession of the Kenosha Unified School District that contains the name, title, and salaries of all administrative employees of the district. I define administrative employees as all employees that are not solely classroom teachers, janitors, or lunchroom workers. Examples would be the superintendent of schools, the director of HR, the chief of school leadership, the communications director, all principals, assistant principals, deans, etc, and all other non-teacher roles within the district.”
***Editor’s Note***
There are people on this list that are good people that work hard every day and deserve to be compensated fairly. There are also people on this list that are overpaid and unnecessary. like Bill Haithcock, Kevin Neir, Jeff Weiss and more. There are a few people on this list that are no longer employed by KUSD. Click here to download this data in excel format.
KM
81 Responses
Me thinks Scott Hodges is very nervous right now. He makes way less than other middle school principals meaning he must have very few years in or not enough education.
In other words, he would be very easy for KUSD to can as the face of the Enwright thing given he really doesn’t have much experience and isn’t getting paid much. I would bet he isn’t back after this year for one reason or another.
Steve Knecht makes the most as a principal
A little sexism going on at the principal salary range. Women below the men in salary !!!!!
He hired at least 2 pedos both when he was district athletic director one at Indian trail and one at a middle school everyone forgets the one at middle school.
Pedophiles are expensive to house….
Lots of coordinators and assistants.
Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. KUSD is cutting teacher positions and closing schools and they are this top heavy? Something to think about.
Give me any budget and I can cut 15% and you’ll never even notice.
Kenosha taxes are high because of these OVERPAID, under worked people!!!!
Over-paid and under-worked!!!!!!
What an incredible waste of tax dollars. KUSD is failing in every way possible. A parent group needs to form and look into a class action against this school system.
Check out Moms for Liberty Kenosha chapter.
I’m a member, they haven’t really addressed this at all, which is remarkably disappointing. 262Mamas did more than M4L 😫
This doesn’t show the entire picture. I don’t believe it includes their fringe benefits.
Kevin, can they also get bonus money on top of salary? Thanks for the eye opener!
Yes
whoa
Can you please find out bonus money that’s where the BIG money comes in.
Also find the additional paid for anything “extra” they did at school that they get paid for doing….
Concessions, snack counters, chaperoning, walking the hall, selling tickets, etc.,etc.,etc.
AND
What are the “benefits” they are also getting?
When you ask for salary, ALL you are going to get is the base salary (in most instances), the benefits and “extras” OFTEN bring the annual income SUBSTANTIALLY higher.
Normally you can add 40-50% including benefits
Does Weiss actually work 40 hours a week? Do any of them? I would venture that Weiss does not work 40 hours and works less. Also, what is the ROI on this salary. Exactly what does he do? What is his job description. Just like bill guy…. What exactly does he do?
They are making way too much money.
Absolutely making WAAAY too much. Are salaries being reviewed against other school districts in the area like Racine & Walworth Counties? I bet when compared, other school district superiors are not making this much. Remember, that we have LOST about 8 elementary schools in our area with a lot of teachers having been relocated or lost employment. How can making this much money be explained? I would like an answer!!!
Holy cow!!! Talk about WAY overpaid!! I am sick of my tax dollars being used to fund pedophiles and pornographers
Many of the names I have seen in the news. I will however, speak up for Jon Bar-Din long -time principal of Curtis Strange. During my time as a visiting instructor , I found him to be a hard -working dedicated administrator. He was actively involved in the school everyday. He earns his pay.
I agree with you 100%! Jon cares about his staff and more importantly his kids. He could easily be sitting in a cush job or at a cush school, but he stays true to the community and to the profession. He is a class act in every way!
Pulling down those big salaries and they still have the nerve to dress so sloppily? The women look like everyone’s fat unmarried aunt and the men have turned the Casual Friday thing into a Everyone Knows IDGAF Everyday uniform. No wonder the kids have no respect for them and they have to keep calling themselves “education experts” because they present themselves to the world like lazy unkempt slobs. Maybe if they dressed like professionals it would remind them to act like highly paid professionals? At least we could tell them apart from the kids then.
But it’s all about the kids…
What is a Culture and Safety Coordinator?? $105,722 salary??
How does a “chief of school leadership” make the same as a CFO? C’mon. Having made-up titles is one thing, but paying that much moolah is quite another. I’ll bet these guys at the top are quick to cry “community service” or “serving the community,” despite the massive salaries.
This is shameful. I don’t know that I am a supporter of a voucher system but when I see this kind of nonsense it lends credence to a voucher system where the taxpayer money follows the student; thus enabling parents to enroll them in quality private educational institutions. That would make a dent in the freeloader’s ride on the public gravy train.
I especially point to the comment below that highlights the closing of schools while many hundreds of thousands of our dollars go to administration. Really? How many of the soon to close schools could have been saved through belt tightening in expenses not directly related to the classroom.
Remember this list the next time KUSD wants more of our money.
And especially remember this list during future school board elections. We need a board committed to clear-eyed, common sense oversight. Because it really should be “all about the kids”.
Voucher only follows the student if the parents are poor. Regular folk get screwed
Not entirely true…
One needs to financially qualify at date of application. Then, the voucher remains with the student regardless of financial status.
Unified school systems need to be abolished entirely, tax dollars should follow the student. ALL school enrollment should be choice-based, regardless of income. Set amount allotted per student, that’s the reimbursement, families pick the school of their choice.
Homeschool
I do- but I also acknowledge that homeschooling isn’t a feasible solution for all families.
Indoctrination isn’t cheap. $$$$
All that money for a useless and corrupt KUSD. What a fucken joke
I think those two top fancy title people used to be called Assistant Superintendents.
One question is how does this stack up with comparable school districts in Wisconsin and northern Illinois?
I won’t accuse someone of being “overpaid” without data to back it up.
They are all overpaid, except the teachers.
How many of our schools have free or reduced breakfast and lunch, because the families are poor? How are these “educators” not embarrassed…. When their students might not know where their next meal is coming from?
….Public school administration is not easily embarrassed—especially when you look at the math and reading levels of students.
But since you mention free food….wonder how much is spent during a school year on treats and eats for the Administration staff?
Isn’t breakfast and lunch free for all KUSD students? I thought I heard that.
Why is the Superintendent making more than the police chief and sheriff?? Where is the logic in that?
Simply ridiculous
I only noticed custodian manager and no custodians, one Maitenance manager and no maintenance technicians. This is only management so the actual payroll is more im guessing.
KUSD should have a ‘pie chart’ showing how much of the budget is spent on wages and benefits, as well as how actually goes to educating students.
Have not looked lately but the percentage of wages/benefits sucks up a huge portion of the budget…………
Would be interesting to see what the ratio of teachers to support staff/administration is?
closing schools should mean the number of employees should be reduced along with those in administration/support who supervise the teachers—
Not gonna happen of course…..only sure thing is Tarik Hamdan will crunch the numbers and plead poverty in order to justify a referendum to raise taxes.
No doubt KUSD pays consultants to come up with a strategy to add to the tax burden home owners already face.
Same game played by all of Wisconsin public education and the teacher’s unions.
Just think if we doubled their salaries, maybe a couple kids could read and do basic math.
Ill bet these are 8-4pm 40 hour a week positions with plenty of holidays off, do they work during xmas & summer break? Add in tax’s, pension benefit’s. health care, disability, and its probably another 50% on top of their salary’s. then incentive’s, my lord…. There’s no private for profit school that would have this much fat….
This certainly doesn’t help their underpaid and overworked arguments……
Now let’s do this for the Kenosha police department and Kenosha county sheriff’s office! All these made up positions making over 100k a year. But they are always asking for more tax dollars. They need to look at savings within!!
Do it for all .gov salaries. This is the communist way. Reward .gov employees for loyalty to the party.
I truly believe we were all better off when that building on 52nd street was Montgomery Wards.
Why not be transparent and post teacher salaries as well? They are many that make more than half the people on this list.
You are able to look those up on http://www.govsalaries.com
Speaking as a government employee whose name and inaccurate wage is on this site—take what you find on some websites with a grain of salt. My 2020 and 22 salary amounts and job title are way wrong.
Why not be transparent and post all salaries? There are plenty of teachers making more than people on this list that are worthless!
Why do gym teachers make 85k and my kid is still a fat bastard?
Because the gym teachers are fat slobs as well
Subaru’s are not cheap.
I’d like to see Gateway’s salaries. Too many are grossly overpaid & incompetent.
I wouldn’t want to be superintendent of that $hit show if it paid $500k. No way.
I also wouldn’t accept $130-140k to be a high school principal.
…but if you’re a a high school principal, you also get three assistant principals, lol.
Weiss makes over 50k more than the mayor of MKE
Cal Johnson is just as ineffective. And rhey raised the taxes how much?
KUSD has almost 94 Millions dollars in reserves. The Fund Balance – Ending 93,997,286 For the Period Ended 3/31/2024
You can look this up by going to https://kusd.edu and click on Departments–>Finance–>Monthy Financial Reports–>Fund Statement
Link: https://www.kusd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2023-2024-Fund-Statements-for-Board-as-of-03312024-run-on-04242024WB.pdf
1. What is the policy for using some of the money to pay off the KUSD deficit?
2. How much money can you take out of the reserves?
3. Are there any penalties for taking a certain amount out?
4. Why do we need to go to a referendum (after closing schools)?
KUSD has to publish all salaries by law. Can you also find and post this link?
I used to be able to find it, but can’t now for the life of me.
Why in the world are teachers having to spend their own money to buy supplies for their classes when there is so much to buy supplies for the kids?
Good question.
The superintendent’s salary is comparable to Green Bay (similar size district). Would be interesting to see what the rest of the salary schedule matches up to Green Bay.
Naperville, a somewhat smaller school district in Illinois and another Chicago suburb, pays the superintendent $285K.
I wonder if the Green Bay Superintendent loves pedos as much as Weiss?
It’s the position that’s compensated. If Weiss is a problem, can him or don’t renew the contract.
But it’s inaccurate to say across the board that the whole lot is somehow overpaid. Some may be and some may be underpaid as well (look at some of the technology salaries).
James Brown: hardest working man in education.
Damn. Principals make more than ALL prison Wardens in Wisconsin. I would say both places are equally important
$16.6 million.
Are the kids smarter than ten years ago?
What are their math and reading scores?
Real math and reading. Not that funny stuff they teach now and test to equalize the students?
STEM. Do they know the difference between boys & girls? Unlike a Supreme Court Justice.
I am glad I do not have children in public schools. LGBT+qxyz is not a class or study.
Help Desk Technician making 75k, what exactly does she do and is this a made up position?
Weiss should be pissed — the Waukegan superintendent gets over $301K plus bonuses!
Do they really need all 20 + Technology support technicians ?
Probably need them more than some of the administrators.
Yes they do. These technicians support over 40 locations and 3800 employees. While I can’t find the exact number of pieces of technology, I know that one High School has OVER 2500 individual pieces of equipment they support on a daily basis, not to mention every student and teacher in the buildings. When you compare what these technicians make as an average IT salary, they are far BELOW the curve, and have far more work than the industy standard.
(I am an IT Manager and no I don’t work there, they would not pay me enough for what they have to do!)
Kevin, thank you for researching and posting. This is all public information. Voters need to educate themselves. Back in 2020, I did some of my own research about the DEI programs KUSD is implementing. People would be floored to know how many thousands of dollars are being spent to teach ’anti-racism’ and ‘social-emotional and culturally-responsive’ learning. That would be a great investigative story if you could make that happen. Especially in light of KUSD apparently not having the funds to keep our schools open!