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Illinois School Board Journal
January/February 2002

Seventh annual survey
Supply, demand push salaries higher

by Robert F. Hall and Max E. Pierson

Recent surveys leave no doubt that the supply of experienced, school administrators is soon to be at an all-time low. Approximately 40 percent of current superintendents say they will retire in the next five years.

This ever-decreasing supply coupled with stable demand will result in significantly higher salaries for experienced administrators, as well as new, inexperienced administrators being hired for the same or higher salary earned by retiring administrators. And when downstate districts fail to increase salaries to match those in suburban Chicago, they will face the reality of a migration of experienced school administrators to the Northeast region of the state. (See "Reality of Numbers Impacts Salaries.")

These are just a sample of the conclusions drawn from the seventh annual survey of superintendents and principals to examine salary trends in a job market that is really statewide and, in many cases, national in scope.

The information concerning superintendent and principal salaries was developed from unaudited information reported by school districts to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) on the Teachers Service Record for fall 2001. The ISBE Department of Research and Policy gathered the information, which was compiled and analyzed by staff of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs and Department of Educational Administration and Supervision, Western Illinois University.

The following information should help school boards determine "fair" increases for incumbent school administrators or guide those boards forced to seek a new school administrator.

This year, as last, the superintendent earning the highest reported salary of $238,546 was a high school district superintendent in the Northeast region of the state. Again, the Northeast region paid the highest salaries in all categories of district: high school, elementary and unit. The Northeast region also had the highest percentage of increase in high school superintendent salaries at 8 percent and an actual dollar increase in the mean of $19,397.

The largest percentage in increase in elementary superintendent salaries came in the Southeast region at 20.3 percent. However, the largest actual dollar increase occurred in the East Central region with an increase of $16,046. The largest percent increase and the greatest increase in dollars for salaries of unit district superintendents (8.7 percent and $7,820, respectively) occurred in the Southwest region.

It should be noted that the range of the means for unit district superintendents has fallen from $30,000 in 2000-01 to $28,234 in 2001-02, a drop of $1,766. This same statistic for elementary districts has remained virtually the same at $54,405 in 2000-01 and $54,627 in 2001-02. In high school districts, the range of the means increased dramatically from $58,074 in 2000-01 to $69,340 in 2001-02.

This indicates that the market for unit district superintendents has become more competitive statewide, while the market for high school superintendents is still a regional market. Also, high school superintendents are rewarded greatly by moving to the Northeast region.

It should be noted that the largest decline in high school superintendent mean salaries occurred in the Southwest, with a loss of 11.3 percent and $12,971. Since the sample size of four is so small, the retirement of one highly paid superintendent could have made a significant difference.

Finally, while the range of salaries for superintendents in the state varies from a low of $54,946 to a high of $238,546, the average salary for all superintendents is $110,135, an increase of $7,523 from $102,612 in 2000-2001. This average includes all types and all sizes of districts.

First, it should be noted that the salaries quoted this year are based on a sample of the salaries of 1,489 principals compared to 604 principals in last year' s survey. There are approximately 3,900 building principals in the state. In all regions, the sample size is larger than last year, and this could contribute to some of the changes noted in high, low and average salaries.

The average salary for all principals ranged from $71,040 in the East Central region to $90,245 in the Northeast region. Compared to last year, the average salary in the East Central region increased by $8,324 and the average salary in the Northeast region increased by $3,333. The average elementary principal salary has increased by $5,089, while the average junior high/middle school and high school principal salaries have increased by $4,580 and $6,476, respectively.

The highest overall salary percentage increases were noted in the East Central region with the reported average salary for elementary school principals increasing 45.5 percent. It should be noted that the sample size for the East Central region is 120 this year, compared to 34 a year ago. This could account for the large percentage increase.

The second highest reported increase was in the Southeast region, where high school and middle school principal salaries increased by a reported 10.7 percent and 10 percent, respectively. In the Northeast region, which has traditionally had the highest reported salaries, high school principal salaries were up 4.5 percent, compared to .6 percent last year. Middle school principal salaries were up 4.7 percent.

As has been true for the past six years, high school principals on the average still make more than middle school principals, who make more than elementary school principals. The highest reported salaries for high school principals ranged from $191,650 (compared to $138,626 last year) in the Northeast region to $103,696 in the Northwest region. It should be noted that this is the first time the highest reported salary for high school principals has exceeded $100,000 in all six regions.

For middle school principals, the highest reported salaries ranged from $125,274 in the East Central region to $79,938 in the Southwest. This is the first year that the highest reported junior high/middle school principal salary was not in the Northeast.

Among elementary school principals, the highest reported salaries ranged from $132,103 in the Northeast to $91,283 in the Southwest. Average salaries for high school and middle school principals are highest in the Northeast. But surprisingly, the highest average salary for elementary principals is in the East Central region.

It would appear that downstate school districts are making great efforts to increase principal salaries to be competitive with suburban Chicago.

The Teacher Service Record data aggregates the results of 419 district reports, out of 891 possible districts, for a response rate of 47 percent. Some districts have not submitted the report yet because of unresolved salary disputes, some are still in transit from the regional offices, and no part-time or interim superintendents' salaries are included.

Only districts that reported their data electronically were used in the study. This resulted in all principals' salaries and all superintendents' salaries from the reporting districts being used. However, the number of districts using electronic reporting has grown so large that it gives a good sample of salary information throughout the state.

Data from the regions, while not complete, appear to be representative. The salary data includes numbers from Cook County, but no data from Chicago Public Schools are contained in this report. The data were sorted by region and district type before the range and mean were calculated.

For purposes of the survey, salary is defined "to include any compensation you would normally anticipate reporting as earnings to the Teachers' Retirement System, commonly referred to as ‘TRS Salary.'" Respondents were asked to include an estimate of coaching stipends or extra duty pay that remains undetermined at the time the report was completed. They also were asked to report only whole dollar amounts.