According to Advance Media, salaries of district superintendents in the state have risen sharply since 2019 when Gov. Phil Murphy lifted the salary cap established in 2011 under then-Gov. Chris Christie. (His poster child at the time was Parsippany-Troy Hills superintendent Leroy Seitz, who made $225K per year for running a 6,000 student district, $50K more than the governor.) The caps ranged from $125K-$175K a year based on district size, with some exceptions for Abbott/SDA districts, county-wide districts, and charter school districts. After the cap took effect, some highly-paid North Jersey superintendents started leaving for greener pastures in New York, leading to a number of vacancies.

There are still vacancies for a school district’s top post but it’s most likely not about money: the average,salary for superintendent in New Jersey is $187,572, lower than the average in NJ before the cap ($191,584) but higher than the U.S. average of $156,468.

Here are the top twenty superintendent salaries in the state:

1. Leigh Byron, Trenton Stem-To-Civics Charter School: $384,000
2. Mark Finklestein, Educational Services Commission of New Jersey:$327,31
3. Howard Lerner, Bergen County Vocational Technical School District: $319,134
4. Teresa Segarra: Maria L. Varisco-Rogers Charter School: $301,600
5. Roger Leon, Newark Public Schools District: $299,332
6. Silvia Abbato, Union City School District: $268,666
7. Victor Valeski, East Brunswick Township School District: $268,178
8. Eileen Shafer (retired at end of school year), Paterson Public School District: $267,900
9. David Aderhold, West Windsor Plainsboro School District: $262,551
10. Charles Sampson, Freehold Regional Public Schools District: $260,100
11. Freehold Regional High School District: $260,100
12. Bernard Bragen, Edison Township School District; $259,996
13. David Roman, Perth Amboy Public School District: $257,762
14. David Miceli, New Providence School District: $256,805
15. Christine Burton Millburn Township Public Schools: $256,778
16. Roy Dionisio, Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District: $256,250
17. Aubrey Johnson: New Brunswick School District, $256,191
18. Henry Poteat: Winslow Township School District: $255,672
19. Michael Ben-David, West Morris Regional High School District: $254,383
20. James Jencarelli, Morris Hills Regional School District: $253,893
21. Richard Tomko, Belleville Public School District: $253,814

Note: Finklestein, Shafer, Sampson, Bragen, Miceli, and Ben-David either retired or resigned at the end of 2022-2023 school year.