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.

Along with its sister news organizations in the Journal Register Company, including the Middletown Press and The Register Citizen, 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 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.

In Avon, Superintendent of Schools Gary Mala earns a $175,000 annual salary and $10,000 a year in tax-sheltered annuity, amounting to $185,000 combined, according to his contract. That's about $52 a student out of roughly 3,558 in the district, as listed in the Journal Register Company's database.

Mala is also allowed $4,000 a year in mileage reimbursement, his contract states, as well as up to $100 a month for necessary expenses like attending professional meetings or clinics and maintaining membership to no more than four professional organizations. He can take up to 25 paid vacation days a year.

Mala's contract expires June 30, 2014.

His contract is viewable online via a link included in the Journal Register Company's database.