AFFTON, Mo. – Steven Brotherton, superintendent of Missouri’s Affton school district, said in 2015 that “Our largest expense is our human resources, with 75 percent of the budget going toward salaries and benefits.”

A little more than a year later, the Affton school board put two proposals on the ballot that would have increased taxes for average property owners in the district by more than $200 per year, according to CallNewspapers.com.

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One of the stated reasons for the revenue request was to “maintain the ability to pay teachers a competitive salary,” the news report said.

So just how much do teachers in the Affton school district make?

There’s more to the answer than people might guess.

In 2015-16, the 172-member Affton teaching staff was collectively paid $10,577,414 in base salary. That averages out to $61,469 per teacher.

Those same teachers also received a combined $1,369,971 in benefits (the district paid 100 percent of health, dental and vision insurance coverage), which averages out to $7,964 per teacher. The school district also made a combined $1,732,370 in retirement contributions on their behalf, which averages out to $10,071 per teacher.

That means the average total compensation for Affton teachers in 2015-16 was at least $79,504.

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Affton teachers were required to work 187 days in 2015-16, according to their collective bargaining agreement. So the average total compensation of $79,504 breaks down to about $425 per day.

Assuming that the teachers were required to work eight hours per day, that breaks down to about $53 per hour.

Quite a few teachers were compensated quite a bit more than average.

One of them – Susan Heins – received $80,077 in base salary, $8,033 worth of benefits, and the district made a $12,775 retirement contribution on her behalf. That totals $100,885.

Another teacher, Angela Black, received $79,015 in straight salary, $8,033 in benefits, and a $12,621 retirement contribution was made on her behalf. That brought her one-year compensation total to at least $99,669.

Brotherton, the superintendent, received a base salary of $175,500, along with $8,033 worth of benefits, and the district made a $26,612 retirement contribution on his behalf.

That brought Brotherton’s total 2015-16 compensation to a cool $210,145.

No wonder the school board asked voters to provide more tax revenue.