MLive: Some information in Mackinac Center superintendent database outdated

By Danielle Arndt K-12 education reporter

Posted on Fri, Feb 22, 2013 : 2:46 p.m.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy's new database on school superintendent pay includes some outdated and inaccurate information, according to an MLive report.

In a Kalamazoo Gazette article published Friday morning, the Gazette reported Kalamazoo Public Schools Superintendent Michael Rice could be the most-compensated superintendent in the state with a package worth $344,667 in 2012.

The database currently shows Utica Community Schools has the highest-compensated superintendent with $300,789 in total compensation.

The Mackinac Center collected information in 2012 from documents posted on district websites. Information supplied by the districts may have been outdated or inaccurate, said Michael Van Beek, director of education policy for the Midland-based free-market think tank.

Van Beek said he has received several phone calls from superintendents saying certain information is not correct.

"I'm changing those on the fly and we're going to continually update it and try to keep it as accurate as we can," he said.

Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent Patricia Green was still listed on the database Friday morning as having the highest base salary in Michigan by $33,000. Green's contract calls for her to be paid $245,000.

The updated figures from Kalamazoo push Green from the seventh to the eighth most-compensated superintendent in the state with a total package worth $273,551. However, a W2 tax form report obtained from AAPS Friday shows Green received $308,433 in total compensation for 2012, including $58,244 contributed toward her pension, $1,080 in long-term disability, $2,912 for life insurance and $10,247 in Federal Insurance Contribution Act tax.

Some districts' information in the Mackinac Center database appears to be from 2011. Ann Arbor's 2011 W2 report was not immediately available Friday to determine whether the $273,551 total compensation figure used by the Mackinac Center was based on 2011 data. But no changes have been made to Green's contract since she and the district signed it in 2011.

District Spokeswoman Liz Margolis said discrepancies in salary and total compensation can occur from year to year based on how many pay periods there are in the annual calendar. The number of pay periods per year can vary by one or two, depending on how the calendar year lines up with the start of the district's fiscal year, she said.

MLive reporter Melissa Anders contributed to this report.