SCHOOLS CHIEFS’ 2021 SALARIES PUBLISHED

5 county superintendents bring home more than $400K in pay, benefits

Five local K-12 superintendents pocketed more than $400,000 each in pay and benefits in 2021, according to the most recent school district pay data published by government accountability website Transparent California.

The same three people were the highest-paid superintendents in San Diego County in both 2020 and 2021: County Superintendent Paul Gothold, Cajon Valley Union’s David Miyashiro and Fallbrook Union Elementary’s Candace Singh.

County Superintendent Gothold, who was paid $471,235 including benefits, leads the San Diego County Office of Education. The county office advises all 42 school districts in the county and operates school programs that serve about 955 students in special populations, including homeless and juvenile court students. Gothold has served in the position since 2017.

Miyashiro, who totaled $470,889 in pay and benefits, has for 10 years led Cajon Valley, an East County district with about 14,800 students that recently became embroiled in a debate over a perceived conflict of interest regarding one of its former board members.

Singh, who saw $447,963 in pay and benefits in 2021, retired from the district last fall after serving in the position for 12 years. Fallbrook Elementary is one of the county’s smaller districts, serving about 4,900 students.

San Diego Unified’s Lamont Jackson — who leads the state’s second-largest school district with about 95,000 students — was paid a total of $325,223 in 2021, when he served most of the year as interim superintendent for the outgoing Cindy Marten.

Superintendent pay often includes more than just salary. Superintendents can cash out unused vacation or sick days and receive overtime pay, stipends, monthly car and phone allowances and more.

Benefits consist of more than just health insurance, often also including life insurance and retirement contributions.

The average California K-12 superintendent made $297,815 in pay and benefits in 2021, according to an analysis by Transparent California. That’s more than Gov. Gavin Newsom collected in pay and ben

efits in 2021, which totaled $261,921.

The state’s highest-paid superintendent was James Hammond of Ontariomontclair School District in San Bernardino County. He collected $743,596 in pay and benefits, partly thanks to generous vacation and sick time payout policies and other benefits.

There’s nothing wrong with superintendents making more than the governor, said Todd Maddison, research director for Transparent California — as long as they can show that they deserve it.

But that’s the problem, Maddison said. Superintendent pay raises are usually not tied to improvements in performance on state measures like the state school dashboard, a district’s enrollment size, or other concrete factors.

“There’s no connection between increasing the pay of the superintendent and actually providing a better education,” Maddison said.

Instead, superintendents are often given raises based on how satisfied the board is with them, or to match those that were bargained with unions representing other employees.

“I would love to see a superintendent pay scheme that had a large bonus based on actual improvement,” Maddison said. “Without more money tied to improvement, you’re not going to get improvement with more money.”

Some superintendents have received significant pay raises since that 2021 data was collected.

After taking over as San Diego Unified superintendent on an interim basis in 2021, Jackson officially became superintendent last year. In the new role, he was paid a $375,000 annual salary, not including benefits or other pay.

In mid-november, the Cajon Valley school board approved a 7 percent costof-living salary increase for Miyashiro, on par with raises given to union-represented employees. His salary is now $381,236 a year.

Miyashiro’s leadership has recently come under criticism after he suggested hiring as a consultant a school board member who had just been voted out of office. When the contract for her company came up for a vote, Miyashiro did not disclose that the firm belonged to her.

In response to questions this week about his pay, Miyashiro cited his creation of the district’s World of Work program, which exposes students to potential careers early on based on their personality, strengths and skills. He touted recognition the district has drawn from education leaders, think tanks and national media.

Cajon Valley Board President Jim Miller said he has never seen Miyashiro turn down a meeting with a parent and that he returns emails, texts and calls at all hours of the day and during his time off. He credited Miyashiro with reopening the district’s schools far earlier than most districts during the pandemic and for already having laptops deployed to students before COVID-19.

“You can almost reverse the question when addressing other districts and their superintendents by asking why do any of those that remained closed and (hoarding) their COVID relief funds still have jobs or hold their trustee positions?” Miller wrote in an email.

Officials with the San Diego County Office of Education and Fallbrook Elementary did not immediately respond to questions for this story. Singh, who left Fallbrook last fall, also did not respond.

Singh has previously said that her pay is commensurate with her years in the position, experience and skills and that the district has benefited from the stability she has brought.