An independent compensation study reveals the Lakota school district is spending less and getting more.

Two Cincinnati-based agencies conducted the study, which compared Lakota’s spending on teacher salaries to 20 similar districts across the state and seven additional selected regional schools. Lakota and Fairfield Schools were the only Butler County districts in the study.

Officials from the agencies — the Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati and University of Cincinnati Economics Center — shared the results with school board members in late January.

“Lakota is doing a very good job of managing its resources relative to other districts, and it’s also maintaining its excellent academic rating,” said Michael Jones, director of research at UC Economics Center. “Lakota’s average expenditures are less but it’s achieving above average graduation rates. This is particularly important in this competitive labor market.”

The school district commissioned the study for $12,950 — of which $4,000 was paid by a Duke Energy Foundation grant — to understand its overall spending on salaries and benefits, and the subsequent return on investment.

The compensation study did an “apples to apples” comparison — using 2011 data from the Ohio Department of Education such as number of students eligible for free lunches — of 20 Ohio school districts including Hilliard, Beavercreek, Mason, and Forest Hills, according to Jones.

Jerry Lewis — a volunteer team member of 12 years with the Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati — said Lakota’s average salary of classroom teachers — around $63,000 — is consistent with other districts. Lakota’s rate is $5,000 more than Fairfield Schools, but $2,000 less than like districts.

“The (Lakota) average is about the same as most schools across the board,” Lewis said.

Lewis said a “key piece of data” is that Lakota dedicates 79 percent of its total operating expenditures on salaries and benefits. That was the lowest rate — after CPS — of the 27 districts compared in this study.

Outside of Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), the Lakota district teaches the largest number of students, more than 18,000 at the time of the study, than any other district included in the research, according to Lewis.

Jones said the district must maintain competitive salaries in order to retain and recruit quality teachers. He said the district draws from a regional pool of applicants, of which the districts of Fairfield, Cincinnati, Princeton and Sycamore are also vying for.

“When you’re trying to recruit in a labor market, particularly with the shrinking market of people going into education today, it’s an important issue to address,” said Superintendent Karen Mantia, who’s served districts in areas rural, urban and suburban.

According to the study, Lakota falls on the higher end of first-step salaries ($37,000), but falls to the lower half for salaries of teachers with a Master’s and 10 years experience ($57,000). The final step salaries within Lakota again rise to the higher end with $83,000.

Within the Lakota district, about 72 percent of the approximate 950 teachers have earned a Master’s degree.

Sharon Mays, president of the Lakota Education Association, said the teacher’s union also maintains a district compensation committee to “keep an eye” on past and future trends across the state. Mays said the union’s current contract expires June 30, 2014.

“For our teachers, professional development and continuing education is something we do as educators,” Mays said. “That goes to the education of the children.”

Jones said he calculated each district’s Return on Investment (ROI) by dividing expenditures per pupil by its graduation rate. Lakota and Fairfield Schools, as well as the Olentangy Local School District near Columbus, recorded the highest Return on Investment, according to Jones’ data.

A high ROI is a school district with below average expenditures coupled with above average graduation rates. At Lakota, less than $9,500 is spent to educate each student and the district graduates more than 92 percent of students.

“A standard measure of financial ability is annual expenditures; it’s a great measure to see how you compare but it doesn’t pick up the measure of performance,” Jones said. “It doesn’t tell you what you’re getting for each dollar you spend.”

The Lakota district has a relatively small percentage of economically disadvantaged students (15 percent) as compared to districts of Cincinnati (70 percent) and Fairfield (29 percent). Jones said the 20 school districts his agency compared to Lakota averaged 16 percent of students eligible for free and reduced lunch.

“Every community has different demographics, different challenges, serves different children, and the community has different needs,” Mantia said. “I hope this district never looses focus that every single child should graduate. And we’re doing it at this great cost.”