Four months into his tenure as Springfield Public Schools superintendent, John Jungmann released details of his plan to stretch district finances, reach commonly held goals and reorganize duties among top administrators.
On Nov. 11, SPS released the superintendent’s Entry Plan Report, which centers on eight points. Jungmann, who officially succeeded Norm Ridder in July, said he spent his first 90 days reaching out to teachers, students, parents and fellow administrators to hear their concerns and expectations for the state’s largest accredited public school district. “In the interview process, I laid out an entry plan that said when and if I get this opportunity, this is what I would do. I created four goals,” Jungmann said, “and the No. 1 goal is to create a structure to listen and learn about the system.”
His other goals are to establish a strong working relationship with the Board of Education; study in-depth student performance and SPS’ financials; and promote a culture of excellence and continuous improvement focused on student achievement.
Between Aug. 5 and Oct. 17, Jungmann held or participated in meetings with 21 groups ranging from CoxHealth leaders, Downtown Rotary, a public meeting at the Library Center and students at Weaver Elementary. He also reviewed feedback from a survey.
From that process emerged long- and short-term goals, such as “create financial sustainability” and “realign organizational structure to meet system goals.”
Broadly, Jungmann looks to drill down on expenses and operational practices to determine what works and what doesn’t work. While 80 percent of the district’s $234 million operating budget goes to payroll for its 3,500 employees – and the average teacher salary ranked eighth out of nine districts examined statewide – per pupil expenditures reveal SPS spends 10 percent more per child than other comparable districts in the region.
“A lot of times in education, we just look year to year. We say, ‘We have a revenue surplus or a revenue shortfall and how do we deal with cutting or expansion?’” Jungmann said. “That’s a limited view of forecasting, and we need to put a five-to-10-year plan together.
“Based on some assumptions, are we financially sustainable or are we not?”
SPS Board of Education President Denise Fredrick said the board strongly supported Jungmann’s efforts to find a better way to manage the 25,000-student district. During the interview process, Fredrick said Jungmann stood out based on his stated commitment to listening to stakeholders before deciding how to move forward.
“It seemed to be very important to him that he’d learn from hearing the stories of others,” Fredrick said, describing Jungmann as ambitious in his approach to the job. “He’s not ambitious in terms of moving on and moving up. His ambition relates to making Springfield Public Schools the best possible district in the state or in the nation.”
Fredrick anticipates a full review of the effectiveness of school programs. The idea driving Jungmann is if there are better ways to spend the same amount of money but improve results through program choices.
“We’ve been asking for that for years,” said Fredrick, a three-year board member. “It is such a huge budget with so many parts and pieces that I think we’d had a little trouble communicating with this past administration’s chief financial officer (about) exactly what we need.
“There’s been a bit of frustration over the past couple of years.”
Following Jungmann from the Liberty school district is new SPS Chief Financial and Operations Officer Carol Embree. She succeeds Steve Chodes, who took a job as chief financial officer for EducationPlus in the St. Louis area.
Embree is dissecting the district’s vast budget expense codes that stretch across SPS’ 36 elementary schools, nine middle schools and five high schools to streamline supply ordering. According to Fredrick, Embree told the board at the Nov. 18 meeting that she’s discovered some 22,000 budget codes, so far, many of which are outdated.
“That is extremely important,” Fredrick said, noting budgeting begins next month for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Jungmann is leading the way to determine the programs and practices with high impacts on student performance.
“If you aren’t being effective and efficient with your current resources, you shouldn’t ask for more,” he said. “Are there any ways to more effectively use our resources through shifting, or are we hitting maximum efficiency and the only other option is revenue creation? We have to understand where all of our money goes.”
One key change will be a shifting of duties among his immediate staff to meet system goals. Looking forward, Jungmann said he plans to hire a chief learning officer to ensure learning priorities are met.
“I think we have some collaboration issues and some opportunities to make sure all of our learning divisions – elementary, secondary, curriculum, professional development – are aligned,” Jungmann said.
Fredrick said the moves to realign duties may be concerning to some, but she thinks that’s par for the course.
“When a superintendent comes in, they need a different work environment than the one had before,” said Fredrick, a retired director with SPS. “They need a different structure for their go-to people, and they look for certain characteristics that work well with their leadership style.”
Fredrick described Jungmann as a charismatic leader.
“He has a side you can see when he talks about students and how their education is their shot at being prepared for their future. That’s very impressive,” Fredrick said.
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