Last week, after listening to a long line of school superintendents telling lawmakers at a public hearing that they need more money for their budgets, I wrote a blog post that mistakenly overstated the salary and benefits paid to Evergreen (Clark) school superintendent John Steach.  His current salary is actually $230,000, plus roughly $20,000 in benefits.

The higher number I reported earlier actually applies to former Evergreen superintendent John Deeder, who retired last year, and was paid a combined package of $433,000.

I made this correction to the original blog post.

The figures come from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The reason state officials provide spending reports is so the public can be informed about how elected officials manage education funding.  Information about public budgets is particularly important in a time when officials consistently report that learning programs they manage for children are underfunded.

For that reason, and for the sake of accuracy, I thought it would be useful to show the compensation levels of school superintendents who receive compensation packages worth more than $250,000 (sum of Total salary, Insurance Benefits and Mandatory Benefits in Table 15 below). In all, the legislature is providing school districts a $3.8 billion increase in funding, compared to the last budget.