Education

Full Disclosure?

December 12, 2006 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Why must public companies, but not public school systems, disclose total executive compensation, asks J.H. Snider in this Education Week Commentary.

While the Securities and Exchange Commission ensures easily accessible disclosure of executive compensation, including pensions, bonuses, and stock options, no such transparency exists for information about school employee compensation. In contrast, the available information about superintendents’ salaries and benefits is usually fragmented and incomplete, and disclosed salaries for teachers are often misleadingly low.

Rather than downplay compensation in order to minimize school employees’ perceived cost to taxpayers, schools should educate the public about the benefits and value of being an educational leader, writes Snider. Instead of hiding salaries, school systems should showcase benefits as a way to attract competent employees. According to Snider, the public should be educated, not misled, when it comes to school employees’ salaries and benefits.

What do you think? Is greater transparency needed in the compensation of public school leaders?

A version of this news article first appeared in the TalkBack blog.

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 17, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read