Administrative costs a small share of Iowa education spending, state auditor reports

DES MOINES — Iowa schools’ administrative costs are not significantly increasing nor are they a significant driver of overall K-12 public education spending, according to a new analysis from Iowa Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat.

Statehouse Republicans pushed back on the report issued by Sand this week.

During the annual legislative debate over public school funding, Republican state lawmakers have at times expressed concerns with how much Iowa’s public K-12 schools spend on salaries for administrators.

Sand’s report acknowledges that debate and suggests administrative spending is not a significant driver of public school expenses.

Using state financial figures and federal inflation rates, Sand’s report shows that statewide, Iowa public K-12 school spending on administrative costs increased 20 percent over six years, but when taking inflation into account, administrative spending over that period decreased 1 percent.

The growth of administrative expenditures in public K-12 schools is capped by state law at 5 percent annually. In other words, public school spending on administrative salaries cannot grow by significant amounts.

Sand’s report is billed as one in a series of reports designed to help local governments and the public track the spending of taxpayer funds.

According to the report, Iowa public K-12 schools on average spent $1,263 per pupil on administrative costs in the state budget year that ended in June 2017. That grew incrementally to $1,515 per pupil in the state budget year that ended in June 2022, an increase of nearly 20 percent — or a decrease of 1 percent when adjusted for inflation, according to the report.

“The percentage of spending directed toward administration costs did not rise over these six years,” Sand’s report says. “It is not a growing cost relative to other categories of spending for school districts.”

During that same six-year period, public K-12 school spending on classroom instruction increased from $8,240 per pupil to $9,321, a 13 percent increase. And spending on facilities development increased from $1,353 per pupil to $2,116, a 56 percent increase.

Sand’s report also stated that, over that six-year span, administrative costs were 8 percent of all expenditures by public K-12 schools. Instructional services comprised 53 percent of spending, according to the report.

GOP response

Statehouse Republicans pointed out that Sand’s report covers only a six-year period and questioned how administrative costs are defined.

“Our caucus has heard the same concerns from Iowans as Auditor Sand. Many Iowans have seen their school district prioritize administrators over teachers and students,” said Melissa Daetsch, spokeswoman for Iowa House Republicans.

“Our caucus’ goal has always been to ensure that the money Iowa taxpayers are sending to K-12 education is being used to most benefit Iowa students. Iowa House Republicans will continue to prioritize parents, students and teachers in everything we do at the Iowa Statehouse.”

In 2023, Iowa Senate Republicans approved a bill that would have broadly expanded the definition of administrative costs to include most non-teacher positions in school districts with more than 1,000 students.

The Des Moines school district said such a law would force the district to reduce its budget by $33 million. The bill, Senate File 251, was not considered in the Iowa House.

Iowa Sen. Michael Bousselot, a Republican from Ankeny, expressed concern with the nature of Sand’s report and said he planned to ask the auditor’s office for information surrounding the report’s compilation.

Bousselot also criticized the report itself.

“Justifying a $124 million increase in administrative expenses over (six) years, a 20 percent increase, as in line with inflation during the same period is a sad indictment of both the administrative growth and the worst inflation crisis of my lifetime,” Bousselot said in an emailed statement.

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