Windsor Superintendent Earns Slightly More than State Average

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, 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.

Windsor Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Villar earns $184,600 per year as a part of his three-year contract agreement signed in November 2011. 

By comparison, South Windsor Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathleen Carter earns $182,000 a year, along with a $7,000 annual contribution to an annuity, $3,000 in travel expenses per year and a $5,000 medical stipend.

Villar's contract makes no mention of an annual annuity, but does detail full coverage of travel and professional expenses associated with the duties of the town's schools chief in addtion to health insurance benefits comparable to other Windsor school district administrators.

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

Both Villar and Carter are far behind the state's highest paid superintendents.

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.

The highest paid superintendent in the state, according to the database, is Westport's Elliott Landon.

Despite a clause in his contract allowing him to "elect each year to reduce his annual salary," Landon makes $285,077 per year in addition a potential annual performance bonus of up to $15,000.

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.