Around New England

At $174,000 Average A Year, Superintendents Still Underpaid, Some Say

June 25, 2018

Current and past superintendents (and their advocates) describe running a school district as an around-the-clock job, with every problem their problem.

The average pay for a superintendent of schools in Massachusetts is $174,000 a year and they stay an average of five years, according to a survey by the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.

The mayor of Marlboro, Arthur Vigeant, who also chairs the city’s School Committee, told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette that officials there are trying to put incentives into new contracts, since so many school administrators are looking primarily for three high-base-salary years to try to maximize their pensions before they retire.

The new superintendent there, for instance, has incentives in his contract for lowering the dropout rate and for living in Marlboro, among other things.

“We’re really trying to get performance-based contract as opposed to a superintendent making a lot of money and then three years and done, while they pad their retirement on the way out,” Vigeant said, according to the Telegram & Gazette.