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Jefferson County School leaders lay out central-office reorganization, staff counts and pay complexities
Summary
District staff presented a revised central-office organization chart and staffing counts — including 4,552 positions in the central-office organization and 1,169 in the administrative/support group — and told the board that 71.5% of central-office staff serve students directly. Board members pressed for page-level spreadsheets and division breakdowns.
Dr. Ferrari told the Jefferson County Board of Education on April 21 that the district’s July 1 reorganization will show 4,552 positions in the central-office organization and 1,169 positions when operations and the police department are excluded; she said 71.5% of the 4,552 are student- or school-facing roles.
The presentation was aimed at clarifying what “central office” means after a recent reorganization, Dr. Ferrari said, while acknowledging the counts can be misleading when some positions are funded from school budgets and others from central funds. Board members repeatedly asked for a page-by-page spreadsheet that shows where positions land, how they are funded and which roles are student-facing.
Why it matters: Board members and the public have questioned the size and cost of central administration during the district’s financial turnaround. Staff said the reorganization was meant to bring greater transparency and to centralize functions previously paid from school budgets, and promised detailed documentation for board review.
What staff reported: Dr. Ferrari summarized the district’s approach to counting personnel after centralization and reorganization. Among the figures presented: - 4,552: the total number of positions in the central-office organization as presented for July 1 (includes operations and JCPS police). - 1,169: the number of positions that remain if operations and the police department are removed (internal administration/support grouping). - 71.5%: share of the 4,552 positions identified as student- or school-facing in the presenter’s breakdown. - 41.8%: share of the 1,169 group identified as direct student-service providers.
Dr. Ferrari noted longer salary schedules and differing certification anchors make cross-district comparisons hard. She warned that certified administrators who are tied to the teacher salary schedule can receive step increases in ways that create “compression” between certified and classified administrators at the same grade.
Board requests and follow-up: At least three board members asked for a public, paginated spreadsheet that maps each position to the funding source, the org chart page, and whether the role is student-facing. Staff agreed to provide the document and said it will include salary ranges and an explanation of how certain positions (for example bookkeepers or AICs) will be handled through attrition.
Context and caveats: Staff cautioned that some positions moved from school budgets to central budgets during the reorganization, so simple headcount comparisons to prior years can mislead without the page-level funding maps. They also said some previously school-based roles will remain in schools until vacancies occur and then be centralized through attrition.
What’s next: Staff will supply the requested spreadsheets and division-level breakdowns after the meeting. Board members said they want quarterly or otherwise regular updates on organizational changes and the salary-comparison work staff are performing.
