Administrators have also been accused of equity-driven attempts to level the playing field for students who didn't qualify for the scholarships at the expense of higher achievers.
"We are a district on the rise now," says Putnam County Schools Superintendent Rick Surrency, after taking graduation rates from 54.9% to 92.5%. "We just passed a bond referendum of $300 million to essentially rebuild every school in our district."
Says the CEO and co-founder of imagiLabs, "What excites me is a future where no child is left behind to gather the essential skills for the digital age simply due to a lack of access to tools and teachers who can help them to code."
The state says the Buckeye Elementary School District overcompensated Superintendent Kristi Wilson, but the school board asserted its authority to offer competitive benefits.
Many things make Missouri's Lee's Summit R-7 School District special, according to its Superintendent David Buck. But at the center of it all are the students.
The majority were more concerned about student safety, education funding and politically motivated book bans than the controversies stirred up by conservative activists, NEA polling concludes.
If leading a school district is a 24-7 job, superintendent salaries—when broken down as hourly wages—are in the same ballpark as those of correctional officers.
