MacIver News Service | May 11, 2011
Wisconsin’s premier database for public employee payroll and benefit data keeps getting better. With the addition of 2011 figures, WIOpenGov.org now has 17 years of compensation data for all K-12 school districts in the state.
““The MacIver Institute is determined to keep WIOpenGov.org as the single best source for Wisconsin government employee data and every week we are adding more data from every level of government,” said Brett Healy, President of the MacIver Institute. “Every time we add more data thousands more people use the website and we are committed to keep building on this success.”
With the 2011 payroll data, WIOpenGov.org now has public school data for full time teachers and administrators for each year since 1994.
- The new data provides some shocking news, including the fact that 11,469 Wisconsin public school employees will take home more than $100,000 in pay and benefits in 2011.
- Overall compensation increased $177million from 2010 to 2011 from $5.972 billion to $6.149 billion.
- The highest compensated school employee in Wisconsin is Gregory Thorton, the Superintendent of the Milwaukee Public Schools. His $265,000 salary is augmented with $77,398 in fringe benefits, for a total annual compensation package $342,398.
- Thorton’s compensation exceeded Madison Superintendent Dan Nerad’s by more than $80,000. Nerad, number two on the list, makes $201,438 and coupled with his $58,034 in fringe benefits, his total compensation package was $259,472.
“We encourage journalists, taxpayer watchdogs, citizen activists and the generally curious to delve into WIOpenGov.org and see what they can find,” said Healy. “Each week we add more data, so each week there is more to find.”
MacIver staff does not augment or manipulate the data it receives from government officials. WIOpenGov.org currently includes payroll information for more than 37,000 state employees, payroll and benefit information for 105,554 K-12 school teachers and administrators in the state and employment compensation figures for tens of thousands of county and municipal employees in Wisconsin.
All of the data available on www.WIOpenGov.org is public, in accordance to state law. However, government entities have varying commitments to just how accessible the information was to the general public.
The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, a two-year old think tank located on the Capitol Square in Madison, is the Free Market Voice for Wisconsin. In addition to WIOpenGov.org, MacIver publishes research and analysis on education, tax and health care issues and operates the MacIver News Service—a copyright free open source news-reporting agency which focuses on free market issues in the public arena.