TORONTO – Ever wonder how much employees at the Toronto Catholic School Board (TCDSB) earn? There is a list for that. The 2020 “Sunshine List” identifies the top public sector workers who made more than $100,000 last year.
The TCDSB employs close to 10,000 individuals including teachers, principals, vice-principals, administrators and support staff. Last year, over 1,700 Board employees earned over $100,000. Nearly eighteen percent of the TCDSB workforce fall into that category (graph 1).
Any organization that receives public funding from Ontario taxpayers, is required under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act, to release the names, positions and salaries of employees who are paid over $100,000 in the previous calendar year. The publicly available list shows a year over year increase in the number of employees who make it onto that list. For instance, the 2020 list year showed 1,773 employees earning more than $100,000, up from 1,389 the previous fiscal year.
That represents a growth rate of nearly 28% – one of the greatest increases in the last five years (graph 2).
What do those numbers mean? The salaries of all those who make the list total $193 million dollars. That figure represents nearly one quarter of the wages and salaries that were paid out to all Board employees, about $817 million. In just one year, the sum of all salaries on the list grew by $40 million, an increase of 26% from 2019 (graph 3).
With the top job at the Board, one could only expect to be the highest paid. That position goes to the Director of Education. In the 2019 fiscal year, Rory McGuckin earned a salary of $268,338.42 for his role as Director of Education at the TCDSB. Since his retirement in August, 2020, the position is now occupied by Brenden Browne, who served as an Executive Superintendent at the Toronto District School Board.
Aside from the Director of Education, only three other individuals are in the top tier of the 2020 list, those who earned over $200,000. Those three are: Dan Koenig, Associate Director of Academic Affairs who earned $231,576.85; Lloyd Noronha who earned $229,557.63 for his role as Associate Director of Facilities, Business and Community development and Chief Financial Officer; and, Andrea Coke, Chief Speech and Language Pathologist who earned $204,140.47.
In fact, these top earners represent just over four percent of the 87 positions that made it onto the list.
Over the last few years, there has been modest growth in this area. They include roles such as: teachers, principals, vice-principals, superintendents and legal counsel. The latter of which appear to be earning their keep as legal matters persist at the Board.
