Connecticut School Superintendents Get High Pay and Perks

Besides their hefty six-figure salaries, Connecticut school superintendents also command enviable perks and bonuses, according to a report in the New Haven Register.

Middletown Superintendent of Schools Patricia Charles, who took over for interim superintendent David Larson last Aug. 1, earns $205,000 and is granted up to $6,500 in mileage annually.

Charles' base salary is $187,000, with $15,000 in a tax-sheltered annuity and a $3,000 in recognition of her doctoral degree, according to her contract.

She also earns 25 vacation days per year, 17 sick and six personal days. With 5,113 students in the Middletown school district, Charles's salary costs $40.09 per student per year, according to the report.

Along with its sister news organizations, including the Middletown Press and the Litchfield County Times, the Register found that the average pay for school superintendents in Connecticut is $166,000 and that they can significantly boost that pay with other negotiated perks and benefits, including compensation for unused sick time, meal allowances, travel pay and bonuses.

The Register included in its story a database of its review of the pay of 148 superintendents, along with links to their contracts.

Some other school superintendents earn more than $200,000 annually and get tens of thousands more each year in perks, the newspapers found. Many also get generous benefit packages that include up to a month of vacation time and several weeks of sick time that can be accrued and then paid out if unused.

While the average annual pay for a school superintendent in Connecticut is $166,000, many school leaders make more than that, the report states. In West Hartford, for instance, Superintendent Karen List makes $230,000 annually with a tax-sheltered annuity included. That makes her the 14th highest paid superintendent in Connecticut.