These Are The Highest Paid School Administrators In NJ: New Data

NEW JERSEY — More than 3,200 administrators in New Jersey school districts make $150,000 or more per year, according to data from the state Department of Education released this month.

This is an increase from 2,556 administrators who made at least that amount last year, based on Patch analysis. And, the 20 highest-paid administrators in the state all got a raise this year, data shows.

Patch pulled salary data that includes superintendents, principals and assistant principals, curriculum directors and other employees in administrative positions within New Jersey schools.

It's becoming increasingly common for school administrators in New Jersey to make upwards of $150,000.

Back in 2011, then-Gov. Chris Christie implemented a $175,000 cap for superintendents. The Christie administration raised the maximum base pay for superintendents to $191,584 in 2017.

Then in 2019, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law that eliminated the cap for superintendent salaries, but set guidelines for school-executive contracts to limit or standardize bonuses and other perks.

School executive pay has long been a controversial subject in both local school district budgeting and state policy. While administrative salaries are often a flashpoint for criticism in school policy, many districts struggled to maintain experienced superintendents when the position's pay was capped, according to a 2019 analysis from NJ Spotlight.

Superintendents, principals and other school leaders throughout the nation have faced intense scrutiny for COVID-19 management and from politically charged movements to overhaul or eliminate certain subjects and topics from the curriculum. But those obstacles have also fallen to teachers and other rank-and-file school employees. And New Jersey has faced a shortage of teaching candidates that preceded the pandemic.

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Here are New Jersey's top 20 highest-paid school administrators, along with their school, their district, their years of service to the local educational agency, and their salaries.

Note: Patch included last year’s salary numbers to compare; all data is from the NJDOE. And, there is a table below with more information on all 3,200+ administrative employees that make more than $150,000 annually.

Leigh Byron, Trenton Stem-To-Civics charter school (43 years of experience, 7 in district): $384,000

• Last year’s salary: $300,000

Mark Finkelstein, Educational Services Commission of New Jersey (27 years in district): $327, 312

• Last year’s salary: 300,000

Howard Lerner, Bergen County Vocational Technical School District (28 years of experience, 16 in district): $319,134

• Last year's salary: $296,619

James Doran, Harrison Public School District (38 years of experience, 12 in district): $315,705

• Last year's salary: $297,082

Teresa Segarra, Maria L. Varisco-Rogers Charter School (22 years of experience, 22 in district): $301,600

• Last year's salary: $281,450

Roger Leon, Newark Public School District (30 years of experience, 30 in the district): $299,332

• Last year's salary: $290,050

Joseph Sirangelo, Hudson County Schools Of Technology School District (44 years of experience, 44 in the district): $285,839

• Last year's salary: $279,042

Timothy Mantz, Pohatcong Township School District (18 years of experience, 18 in the district): $281,694

• Last year's salary: $281,694

Robert Kornberg, North Bergen School District (50 years of experience, 50 in the district): $272,867

• Last year's salary: $270,700

Peter Genovese III, Long Branch Public School District (28 years of experience, 27 in the district): $271,234

• Last year's salary: $262,822

Silvia Abbato, Union City School District (42 years of experience, 42 in the district): $286,666

• Last year's salary: $248,331

Victor Valeski, East Brunswick Township School District (29 years of experience, 8 in the district): $268,178

• Last year's salary: $261,000

Eileen Shafer, Paterson Public School District (30 years of experience, 30 in the district): $267,900

• Last year's salary: $267,900

Richard Giglio, Passaic County Technical-Vocational Schools (46 years of experience, 26 in the district): $265,338

• Last year's salary: $257,860

Nicholas Fargo, Hudson County Schools Of Technology School District (16 years of experience, 16 in the district): $263,036

• Last year's salary: $256,780

David Aderhold, West Windsor-Plainsboro School District (20 years of experience, 13 in the district): $262,551

• Last year's salary: $256,148

Jose Segarra, Maria L. Varisco-Rogers Charter School (14 years of experience, 14 in the district): $262,080

• Last year's salary: $238,420

Charles Sampson, Freehold Regional High School District (26 years of experience, 11 in the district): $260,100

• Last year's salary: $255,000

Bernard Bragen, Edison Township School District (2 years of experience, 2 in the district): $259,996

• Last year's salary: $254,898

Harold Kennedy Jr., Elizabeth Public Schools (22 years of experience, 22 in the district): $259,010

Last year's salary:

For the full data, examine the table below.

Correction: Michael Kilmurray of Ridgefield Park was removed from the Top 20 highest-earner list due to an error in the data provided to Patch.

This article contains reporting from Josh Bakan.