Alabama school superintendents salaries saw a record increase this year. Some local leaders received more than $50,000 in raises. One out-earns the state’s schools chief.

The average local superintendent salary for fiscal year 2023 is $163,260, up from $152,279 last year, according to recent earnings reports from the Alabama State Department of Education.

That’s a jump of 7%, the highest annual increase in more than a decade.

And in 2020, the highest-paid superintendent in the state, Wayne Vickers of Alabaster City, was paid $235,707. Now, in 2023, the highest-paid superintendent is Chreshal Threadgill of Mobile, who is paid $287,816.

“When you look around at the people that have the qualities that you look for in a superintendent, and the willingness to sit in that chair, there’s not a long list,” said Ryan Hollingsworth of the Alabama School Superintendents Association.

The pay bump comes amid record growth in the state’s education budget, and after more than two years of navigating pandemic-related closures and quarantines, labor shortages and academic recovery.

“I don’t think there’s a superintendent out there and I don’t think there’s a school board member out there that’s not exhausted from all the issues in and around COVID that they’ve had to deal with,” Hollingsworth added. “…I don’t think it’s out of line with any of that if you look at it in that context, and then look at what they’ve been through.”

AL.com analyzed 12 years of state earnings data and compared superintendent salaries to K-12 enrollment, student achievement and other school district data.

The earnings reports list salaries for county, city and charter school superintendents, with the exception of University Charter School’s head of school, who is paid by the University of West Alabama. They do not include benefits or other contractual perks.

Local teachers typically are paid by a combination of state and local funds. Superintendent salaries are paid entirely with local dollars. Their contracts and pay typically are approved by local school boards.

A record increase

For years, most local superintendents, with the exception of some in small, rural districts, have easily earned six-figure salaries.

The top end of that pay scale continued to grow this year, with 25 district leaders making more than $200,000, up from 17 last year and 12 in 2020.

Threadgill, who leads the state’s largest school district, remains Alabama’s highest-paid local superintendent.

He’s bringing in a total of $287,816 this year.

Threadgill is followed by Eddie Tyler of Baldwin County, the third-largest Alabama school district. Tyler will make $275,251 this year.

Mike Daria of Tuscaloosa City Schools, who received a contract extension and a $55,869 raise this school year, jumped into third place with a salary of $272,755.

See the change over time below. Click here if the visualization doesn’t run.

Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey, who leads the state Department of Education, will earn about $276,000 this year.

Education leaders say the increases aren’t surprising, given the state’s latest investments in record teacher raises and additional school staff.

“This is to be expected, this year of all years, after we’ve had these historic pay raises,” said Amy Marlowe of the Alabama Education Association, who has been looking at salary trends for decades. “If you’re just looking at, well, they got 7% and everyone else got 4%, then yes [it seems alarming], but if you do the math behind it, and actually look at the dollars, it’s more even than that.”

Marlowe said it’s important to keep in mind that, especially in recent years, teacher pay can vary widely depending on their level of experience and where they work. Superintendents also don’t get consistent salary increases like teachers do, analysts at the Southern Regional Education Board noted.

Average superintendent salary increases were at their lowest rates, at 1%, just before the pandemic began.

Pay in some districts has continued to drop, data shows.

Superintendents in Thomasville, Tuscumbia and Winfield City are among the lowest-paid in the state, but the yearly salary for those positions has declined since 2020.

Pay also went down this year in Roanoke, Andalusia, Oxford, Alexander City, Bullock County, Oneonta, Macon County and Phenix City. In some places, that may be because a new person filled that position recently, or an interim took over and was paid a smaller salary.

In six districts, pay stayed the same from one year to another. Pay went up in the remaining 124 districts, with four superintendents earning more than $50,000 more than the previous year.

High raises, Hollingsworth said, could be due to superintendents’ experience levels and low turnover.

Recent studies have put the national turnover rate at about 25%. Hollingsworth estimates that about 15% of Alabama school systems have a new superintendent or are actively looking for someone to fill that role.

“When that knowledge and experience walks out the door and leaves, it’s tough for a district sometimes to replace that,” he said.

Pay trends

Data shows that superintendent pay isn’t all about a district’s academic achievement – though that may be a factor.

Of high-poverty districts that had above-average achievement rates last school year, superintendent salaries ranged from $109,373 in Clay County to $175,000 in Phenix City.

Among low-poverty, high-achieving schools, salaries ranged from $197,892 in Pike Road City to $247,510 in Mountain Brook.

More often, the type of district, its size, student demographics and other trends play a part in how much district leaders get paid.

“The ones that make the really high salaries are either in the really affluent districts, or the ones with the largest student populations,” Marlowe said. “Not as much so, but a third factor is how long they’ve been a superintendent.”

Typically, city district superintendents make more than county district superintendents. Appointed superintendents in Alabama have also historically made more than elected superintendents – a trend that’s reflected nationally.

Less than a third of Alabama school superintendents are women, despite women making up more than three-fourths of the teaching force. They made, on average, about $13,000 less than the average male superintendent, not accounting for years of experience or other demographic or district-level data.

While bigger districts generally pay their leaders more, it’s not always proportional to the amount of students they serve.

Threadgill, in Mobile, makes the lowest per-student salary, bringing in about $6 per pupil in the district of 50,000.

Christie Findley of Huntsville City Schools was paid the lowest per-student among city superintendents, at $11 per pupil. Huntsville City Schools is Alabama’s largest city school district and the fifth largest system overall, with an enrollment of 22,561 students.

With the exception of ACCEL, i3 Academy and LEAD Academy, charter leaders topped all other district superintendents in terms of pay per student.

The highest per-student salary among charter school executives was $1,768 per pupil at Alabama Aerospace and Aviation Academy, a new charter that has a small enrollment of 80 students.

Look up your superintendent’s salary in the table below. Can’t see the table? View it here.

Education reporter Trisha Powell Crain contributed to this report.