Metro

Supervisor bloat hikes overhead of the class

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ALBANY — As Gov. Cuomo calls on schools to cut the bloat, the ranks of education administrators have swollen a breathtaking 34 percent over the last 15 years — and they’re overseeing fewer students, The Post has found.

The number of supervisory staff in public schools increased to 42,000 this year from 31,332 in 1997, even as student enrollment statewide fell and performance rankings sat stagnant, according to a Post analysis of state Education Department data.

The state’s student population dropped to 2.7 million from 2.8 million — or 4.6 percent — during that period.

And during that same span, the number of rank-and-file teachers grew to 214,000 from 194,957 — a 9.8 percent increase.

As a result, overall public-school expenditures more than doubled, from $26 billion to $58 billion statewide.

That massive expansion of school spending has come under fire by Cuomo, who argues that the state’s approximately 700 school districts could absorb his $1.3 billion (6 percent) year-to-year school-aid cut without hurting students.

“The huge growth in school bureaucracy and overhead is disturbing, especially since many schools are threatening to fire teachers,” Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said. “School districts clearly have more than enough to do more with less.”

More than 14,000 teachers have been threatened with layoffs, according to a New York State United Teachers survey of some 230 districts.

Cuomo argues that schools have other options, such as freezing salaries, axing bureaucratic jobs, increasing benefit contributions and spending down reserves.

In February, Cuomo proposed a bill that would limit the salaries of school chiefs, who he said need to “wake up to the new economic reality.”

“Government must be more efficient and cut the cost of the bureaucracy,” he said at the time. “We must streamline government because raising taxes is not an option. Reducing back-office overhead, administration, consultants, and encouraging consolidations are the best targets to find savings.”

According to the governor’s research, 223 (33 percent) of school-district superintendents earn more than $175,000.

His proposal would cap superintendent salaries based on the size of the district by enrollment.

Heads of the smallest districts, which oversee up to 250 students, would get a $125,000 cap.

The largest, with more than 6,501 students, would see a $175,000 cap.

In all, the caps would save $15 million. They would not apply to New York City.

The governor’s bill has not yet been considered by the Legislature.

School officials say state and federal mandates have, since the mid-1990s, forced them to cut class sizes, beef up teacher evaluations, improve special education, increase the amount of Regents diplomas, and enhance internal financial accounting.

“The state demands a certain amount of administration any time it passes on new mandates,” said New York State Council of School Superintendents spokesman Robert Lowry.

District officials have called on Cuomo to act on the mandate-relief plan he promised during his campaign last year.

New York’s education record has been mixed despite the spending spree.

The state ranked 38th in graduation rates in 2008, when 70.8 percent graduated from high school, up from 40th in 1997, when 65.3 percent got diplomas.

brendan.scott@nypost.com