Salary Compensation for Education Administrators: An Examination of Appropriate Rates (Revealing Their Actual Earnings)

A new survey by the EdWeek Research Center on behalf of Allovue has revealed that school and district leaders, including superintendents, principals, and assistant principals, believe they are underpaid. The survey was conducted during a time when districts were grappling with the end of federal COVID-19 aid.

The median response among superintendents for a fair salary was $150,000, while principals and assistant principals sought $120,000 and $112,500 respectively. However, if the average district redirected all of its administrative costs to teachers' paychecks, it wouldn't lead to significant increases, according to Gartner.

Teachers, in the same survey, asked for about a 25% increase in their salaries. When asked what they would consider a fair salary, the median response among teacher respondents was $85,000, about 25% higher than the actual median salary of $68,000. Interestingly, teacher respondents were more likely than school and district leaders to underestimate the cost of benefits like health care, pensions, and time off relative to their salaries.

The survey also highlighted concerns about financial strain in schools. Fifty-five percent of all survey respondents, including teachers, said their district is worse off financially than it was three years ago. A California high school teacher wrote in an open-ended response that their district spends too much of the budget on salaries and positions at the district office.

In an effort to increase transparency and accountability, a bill was debated this year in North Carolina that would require districts to publish the job titles and salaries of all district administrators. Similarly, a 2024 New Hampshire law requires districts to publish charts showing average teacher salaries, average administrator salaries, and per-pupil costs over the previous 10 years and to list the salaries of the four highest-paid administrators.

Jess Gartner, Allovue’s founder, stated that claims of overstaffing in districts' central offices oversimplify complex questions about education spending. Instead, Gartner suggested that to meaningfully increase teacher salaries, lawmakers should consider increasing revenue to schools, improving health care policy, and reforming teacher-pension programs to reduce their burden on districts.

In a notable move, Oklahoma state Superintendent Ryan Walters demanded districts cover the cost of school meals without offering additional funding, suggesting they could do so by redirecting money from administrators' paychecks.

Gartner serves on the board of trustees for Editorial Projects in Education. The survey findings underscore the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing the financial challenges faced by schools and districts, and the importance of open dialogue and transparency in education spending.

Salary Compensation for Education Administrators: An Examination of Appropriate Rates (Revealing Their Actual Earnings)