Douglas’ pay ranks low
Her salary of $85K is less than half the U.S. average
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas is the nation’s lowest paid state education administrator at $85,000, according to an Education Week analysis of state superintendent salaries.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas is the nation’s lowest paid state education administrator, according to an Education Week analysis of state superintendent salaries.
Douglas’ salary of $85,000 is less than half the national average of $174,000 for state education chiefs, and less than onethird the amount of the country’s highest-paid state chief.
Carey Wright, state superintendent of the Mississippi Department of Education, is the highest paid state superintendent with a salary of $300,000.
Christina Kishimoto, the former superintendent of Gilbert Public Schools, is the sixth-highest paid state chief as Hawaii’s Superintendent of Education. Kishimoto’s salary is $240,000.
As the state’s top education official, Douglas leads the Arizona Department of Education and sits on the 11-member Arizona State Board of Education. Douglas and the education department are responsible for enforcing the state board and Arizona Legislature’s policies and administering billions of dollars in state and federal funding to Arizona’s district and charter schools.
Douglas did not appear bothered by the publication’s analysis when reached for comment.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as Superintendent of Public Instruction,” Douglas said in a statement. “It’s not about the salary, it’s about doing the right thing for Arizona’s students.”
The Education Week analysis found no correlation between state superintendent salaries and the number of public school students in each state. (Arizona’s public-school system is made up of more than 1.1 million students; Mississippi has less than 500,000 publicschool students; and Hawaii’s enrollment is 182,000 students.)
Rather, the analysis found that a state schools superintendent’s salary depends mostly on how they were hired.
State chiefs who were appointed by an education board averaged nearly twice as much in salary than those who were elected by voters — $223,000 compared to $115,000.
Arizona is one of 13 states where voters elect the state schools superintendent. Elected officials in Arizona have among the lowest salaries in the country compared to their peers.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s salary is $95,000. That ranks 48th nationally behind Colorado ($90,000) and Maine ($70,000), according to the Council of State Governments.