JEFFERSONVILLE — Discussions about the future of Greater Clark County Schools’ superintendent, Stephen Daeschner, seem to point toward allowing his contract to expire.

Daeschner’s salary of $225,000 — not including benefits — is the second highest among superintendents in the state. The district faces a budget deficit of nearly $4 million for 2012 and options for savings have proven to be difficult solutions for the board.



How much is too much?

A final decision on Daeschner’s future with the district is expected at the board’s meeting Dec. 20.

Christina Gilkey, board president, said some ideas were explored at an executive session Tuesday night, but keeping him in the same role at a lower pay rate wasn’t a likely option.

“The consensus that we came to is that we’re not going to renew Dr. Daeschner as superintendent in that role,” Gilkey said. “But we do recognize that he’s done an excellent job leading us to some academic achievement. So we want to explore keeping him in Greater Clark in a curriculum sort of role.”

She said giving him a pay cut wouldn’t be fair unless they changed his job description.

“I don’t think there was a willingness on either part to go down that road,” Gilkey said. “If Dr. Daeschner were to take this new role, obviously it would be for less money and probably a little less responsibility. I don’t think he was willing to renegotiate and keep the same responsibility, nor were we willing to keep him at the same salary.”

But Daeschner said he couldn’t comment on whether he’d stay on board at a lower salary because the subject was never discussed with him.

“At no point in time has the board indicated that they want to retain me as superintendent with reduced salary,” Daeschner said. “In fact, it’s just the opposite. I had a majority of the board look me straight in the eye and tell me ‘we do not plan to renew your contract.’”

Nancy Kraft, board member, said Daeschner had an aggressive set of goals when he became superintendent, which he planned to achieve in three years.

She said he did it all in two years.

“I don’t know how you can put a price on the way a kid feels about their education and the fact that they’re way above the state average on their test scores,” Kraft said. “He somehow can get into the classroom, get to these teachers and see what needs to be done these days to get those grades up.”

Daeschner brought the district’s ISTEP+ scores from below to above the state average.

Becca Christensen, board member, said money is still a big issue, though. She said when he was hired, it wasn’t such a big deal, but it drives a lot of the board’s decisions now.

But she did say it’s important to note what he’s done, including bringing the district’s high schools out of academic probation under Adequate Yearly Progress.

“I think what some fail to understand is that in order to achieve the academic excellence we’re seeing in Greater Clark, Daeschner is able to do that as one person,” Christensen said. “Otherwise, we might have to get several experts in the educational field to come in to do that.”

She said the board has hired education experts as consultants in the past at rates as high as $40,000 per semester, but Gilkey said that money typically comes from grants and Title I funds. Daeschner’s salary comes out of the district’s general fund.

Gilkey said if Daeschner took on a new role at a lower pay rate and a new superintendent was hired internally, the district could save some money by freezing the position vacated by the new superintendent.

But she said even if one were hired outside of the district, freezing any open positions in the district’s administration could save some money. She said she didn’t know of any current administrative openings.



Sparing no expense

Robbie Valentine, a former board member who helped recruit Daeschner, said having a strong superintendent means more than producing strong test scores. He said it affects the economy within the district.

He said he and business leaders in Clark County will hold a rally at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, at Kye’s I in Jeffersonville. He said strong school systems bring business, people and economic strength into their communities.

He said he hasn’t seen any reason brought up to get rid of Daeschner other than his salary.

“Show me and the group of supporters why it’s not important to keep Dr. Daeschner as our superintendent,” Valentine said. “Show us on paper other than his salary, because that’s all they keep talking about.”

He said he understands tight budgets and making cuts, but he’s only seen successful efforts from Daeschner without any failures.

Kraft said Daeschner’s work in the district has proved him to be more than a capable leader. She said talk of cutting his salary or getting rid of him doesn’t make sense.

“We were very clear on what we wanted to do when he came here and he’s done all of those things,” Kraft said. “For us to say now that he costs too much, that’s not what you do when you give someone an evaluation. You either plan to keep them or give them a raise.”

Christensen said it cost the district a lot of money to keep him on board, but his successes have made him worth it.

“We’ve done what Dr. Daeschner set out to do and we can continue the work,” Christensen said. “How we’re going to pay for it, I’m really unclear, but I feel really strongly that we need to find the money, somehow, some way.”