KANSAS CITY – A lot of public school districts have top-heavy administrations, with groups of elite administrators making a great deal of money.

There is constant debate about top administrators getting top compensation. Some say it’s necessary to pay high salaries to attract top talent, while others believe the wealth should be spread more evenly among the school staff.

But there is one concept most reasonable people can agree on: The top administrators in any school district are ultimately responsible for the academic performance of the students. Big salaries call for big results.

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But it doesn’t always work out that way.

EAGnews recently researched the top 10 salaries in five public school districts in Kansas, then looked for student performance data in those districts, to determine if the big salaries paid to top administrators were warranted.

In most cases, it’s hard to argue that the money was well spent. The proof is in state test results for students in grades 3-8 and 11 in the 2012-13 school year.

Let’s start with the Kansas City district, where the superintendent, Cynthia Lane, had a total compensation package of $234,971 in 2013-14. The total amount spent on compensation packages for the 10 highest paid employees was $1.5 million. That’s enough to pay a lot of extra teachers.

Yet students in Kansas City did not come close to meeting state averages in reading, math or science tests.

In reading, 84.7 percent of students across the state were in the “met expectations,” “exceeded expectations” or “exemplary” categories. In Kansas City the total was 46.3 percent.

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Results were similar in in math (Kansas City 41.5 percent; state 78.3 percent) and science (43.6/85).

In the Wichita school district, Superintendent John Allison had highest compensation with a package worth $257,234. The 10 highest paid employees had packages worth a combined $1.4 million.

In test scores Wichita also fell below state averages in all three categories – reading (71/84.7), math (65.1/78.3) and science (80/85).

In the Topeka district, Superintendent Julia Ford had a more modest $165,300 compensation package, while the top 10 combined made $1.2 million.

Topeka students also fell short in all three categories – reading (68.6/84.7), math (65.1/78.3) and science (69.8/85).

In the Salina district, Superintendent William Hall had a total compensation package worth $173,783 and the 10 highest paid employees had compensation worth a total of $1.2 million.

Salina students did better than the other three districts, actually beating the state average in science (85.9/85) but falling short in reading (81.8/84.7) and math (67.1/78.3). At least those students were the same ballpark with their peers around the state.

The final district, Lawrence, has the second lowest paid superintendent of the five (Richard Doll, $167,788) and the least expensive combined compensation for the highest paid 10 employees ($1.1 million).

Yet students in the Lawrence district performed the best of all five districts, beating the state average in all three categories.

In reading 90.1 percent of Lawrence students made the grade, compared to 84.7 percent in the state; 83.5 percent at least met standards in math, compared to 78.3 percent in the state; and 88.7 percent at least met standards in science, compared to 85 percent in the state.

Those are numbers Lawrence administrators can point to with pride when defending their salaries.

How do the leaders of the other districts rationalize their over-inflated incomes?