If you’re looking for part of the reason why spending on public schools, in particular USD 259, the Wichita public school district, is increasing so fast, look at the number of students for each employee.
The chart below shows the trend for the number of students (full-time equivalent) for each certified employee.
Over a period of 12 school years, the number of students per employee has declined from 13.7 to 10.9. In percentage terms, that’s 20.4%. This increasing number of employees, both absolute and in terms of the number of employees per student, is expensive.
The employee count used in these calculations is “certified employees.” For the 2008 to 2009 school year, here are the figures, from the Kansas State Department of Education:
| Superintendent | 1.0 |
| Assoc.Asst. Superintendents | 5.0 |
| Administrative Assistants | 0.0 |
| Principals | 85.0 |
| Assistant Principals | 74.6 |
| Directors/Supervisors Spec. Ed. | 17.0 |
| Directors/Supervisors of Health | 0.0 |
| Directors/Supervisors of Voc. Ed. | 0.0 |
| Instructional Coordinators/Supervisors | 14.0 |
| All Other Directors/Supervisors | 29.0 |
| Other Curriculum Specialists | 0.0 |
| Practical Arts/Vocational Teachers | 133.0 |
| Special Ed. Teachers | 529.7 |
| Prekindergarten Teachers | 46.0 |
| Kindergarten Teachers | 200.0 |
| All Other Teachers | 2,564.3 |
| Library Media Specialists | 71.1 |
| School Counselors | 108.9 |
| Clinical or School Psychologists | 58.5 |
| Nurses | 79.2 |
| Speech Pathologists | 66.9 |
| Audiologists | 0.0 |
| School Social Work Services | 96.2 |
| Reading Specialists/Teachers | 50.4 |
| Others | 0.0 |
| Total | 4,229.8 |