Blog: Data analysis always helps – even on the School Board
Data analysis always helps – even on the School Board
It’s not just political polling that benefits from rigorous data analysis. This past week, our firm was tapped to do some impromptu data analysis to check if a Collier County, FL School Board member’s claim was accurate. It turns out, it wasn’t – and we had the receipts to prove it.
In November of 2022, Collier County elected an all-new conservative majority to their School Board, and the county’s superintendent “stepped away” from the job not long after. The ensuing process to hire a new superintendent was contentious, but eventually the Board decided on Dr. Leslie Ricciardelli, a longtime Collier County educator, and the next step was to iron out a contract.
There were two schools of thought on the matter. One wing of the Board supported Dr. Ricciardelli’s request to be paid $305,000 per year. The other wing wanted to offer a lower salary, as that’s what was advertised in the job posting. At a public School Board meeting, conservative activist Rachael Schaaf questioned whether this $305,000 salary was a responsible use of taxpayer money. In response, School Board member Stephanie Lucarelli – the most outspoken proponent of the salary increase – argued that $305,000 was “in line with other superintendents across the state.” It is this statement that we were tasked with fact-checking.
To do so, we collected data on superintendents’ salaries from every county in the state of Florida, as well as each county’s total student enrollment. We plotted this data in the chart below, and with the help of a trusty trendline, we clearly showed that the proposed $305,000 salary was out of line with counties with similar enrollments.
After conducting various other analyses, we prepared a one-page report with more convincing charts and data points. Our four key facts were:
- For Ricciardelli’s salary to be “in line” with districts with similar enrollments throughout Florida, it would need to be decreased to $191,104, according to a regression model.
- Ricciardelli is requesting to be the 5th-highest paid superintendent in Florida, despite Collier County only having the 16th-highest enrollment in the state.
- All five Florida superintendents who currently make $300,000/year or more oversee counties with enrollments more than four times as high as Collier County’s.
- The average superintendent salary for Florida counties with enrollment of 40,000-50,000 (like Collier County) is $199,084.
These facts are indisputable, and our report put concrete numbers on the table, not just broad generalizations.
It wasn’t long before this report had made its way to all relevant parties in the negotiations. It was distributed to all School Board members by a conservative member of the Board, and the numbers were referenced in a Florida Politics article published ahead of the contract negotiations. Perhaps most importantly, concerned members of the general public used these numbers in their statements opposing the contract, starting with Schaaf, whose fact-focused arguments drew some of the most raucous applause of the night.
When Lucarelli finally had her chance to speak on the matter, she started off with one sheepish admission: “What I said about the superintendent’s contract being in line with all of Florida was incorrect.”
From that point on, the negotiations focused primarily on the facts and figures, rather than on baseless assumptions and generalizations. The public became far more informed, and public figures were held accountable for telling untruths.
Interested in seeing how data analysis could help you, too? You can reach out to us
here, and we’ll be happy to have a conversation.







