School District And Superintendent Both Get More —But Not Enough, He Says

Mark Greathead, the superintendent of the Woodhaven-Brownstown School District, wrote an op-ed for The Detroit News in which he complains about taxpayers and the state not giving more to public schools.

“In this current crisis, there is no excuse for not repaying schools after years of disinvestment — the time is now to act in the best interests of our children, teachers and staff,” Greathead wrote in the Aug. 10 piece.

State funding (not including local or federal dollars) at the Wayne County district increased by $862 per pupil from 2009-10 to 2018-19, after adjusting for inflation. The state K-12 education budget for the 2018-19 school year was adopted before the COVID-19 pandemic and not affected by it.

Greathead’s own total pay has risen from $135,000 in 2013-14 to $151,823 in 2018-19, which is 4.6% above the rate inflation for that period.