PEORIA, Ariz. – Incomplete media reports leave citizens with incomplete impressions.

Several 2015 reports regarding teacher compensation in the Peoria, Arizona school district gave the definite impression that the educators in the district are grossly underpaid.

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One story, published by PeoriaTimes.com, noted that the school had approved “just over $2 million in teacher raises.

The story noted that “teacher salaries at PUSD were frozen for much of the last decade,” and “teacher pay at PUSD is almost $4,600 below the state average.”

Another story, published by GlendaleStar.com a few months later, noted that the turnover rate for teachers in the Peoria district had increased from 14 to 16 percent between 2013-14 and 2014-15 – and suggested that low pay was a big reason for the attrition rate.

“The elephant in the room is pay, and we can talk about reputation, we can talk about a whole bunch of things,” Superintendent Denton Santarelli was quoted as saying. “Pay is why people are leaving. And there may be some other ancillary reasons, but the biggest portion of it has to do with pay.”

The news report went on to explain that the average teacher salary in the district in 2014 was $41,433, compared to $46,746 in “peer districts” and $46,026 statewide.

But the news stories did not give a very accurate picture of exactly how much money the school district actually invests in its teachers.

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In the 2015-16 fiscal year, 1,917 Peoria teachers were paid a combined $84,822,996 in base salary, for an average salary of $44,247. But the district also forked out a lot of money for expensive benefits.

The teachers received a combined $20,414,905 in benefits, for an average of $10,649 per teacher.

The school district paid out a combined $16,019,807 in contributions to the Arizona State Retirement System on behalf of the teachers. That averages out to $8,356 per teacher.

So the average total compensation for Peoria teachers in 2015-16 – counting benefits and the retirement contribution – comes to $63,252 – $19,005 more than the average base salary.

Peoria teachers worked 180 days in 2015-16, and we can assume their daily schedule was about eight hours. Using that schedule, the $63,252 average teacher compensation breaks down to about $351 per day and about $43 per hour.

That’s not such a bad rate, after all.

Meanwhile, Santaralli, the district superintendent, made out really well in 2015-16.

His salary totaled $184,452.50 which included a base pay of $155,000, performance pay ($20,452.50), a car allowance ($6,000) and business expenses ($3,000). That totaled $184,452.50

His total benefit package was worth $33,152.33. It included an “alternate contribution rate” ($23,164.33), medical reimbursement ($7,398) and life insurance ($2,590).

Finally, there was the “annuity paid by the district,” which totaled $44,950.

Overall Santarelli was compensated a total of $262,554 – $107,554 more than his base salary.