Most School Superintendents Paid More Than the Governor

Concord, NH- Across New Hampshire, a growing number of school districts are paying their superintendents more than the state’s governor and at the same time homeowners are facing some of the steepest property tax increases in the region.

The comparison is striking. New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte earns just over $146,000 a year. That salary places her among the lowest-paid governors in the country, despite overseeing the full scope of state government.

The governor’s responsibilities include managing the executive branch, administering the state budget, appointing agency heads and judges with Executive Council approval, responding to emergencies, and representing New Hampshire in interstate and national matters. Under state law, the governor also serves as commander in chief of the New Hampshire National Guard when it is not federalized, with authority over Guard deployments for state emergencies and disaster response.

Yet in dozens of towns and school administrative units (SAUs), superintendent salaries now exceed that figure.

The districts where superintendent pay surpasses the governor’s salary are not isolated cases or limited to large cities. They include communities of every size, from small rural cooperatives to major population centers. Among them are districts serving Durham, Lee, Madbury, Manchester, Goffstown, Nashua, Portsmouth, Keene, Concord, Derry, Bedford, Salem, Londonderry, Exeter, Windham, Rochester, Lebanon, Laconia, Milford, and many others across all regions of the state.

In practical terms, superintendents overseeing student populations in the hundreds or low thousands are earning more than the official responsible for governing a state of roughly 1.4 million residents.

What gives the issue added weight is how these salaries are paid.

The governor’s salary is funded through the state budget. Superintendent compensation, by contrast, is paid almost entirely through local education budgets that rely heavily on property taxes. While the state provides a record amount of education aid, local taxpayers shoulder most operating costs, including administrative pay.

That reality comes as property tax bills continue to climb statewide. Even with record levels of state education funding flowing to school districts, many communities are seeing little relief at the local level. For homeowners, school budgets remain the largest driver of annual tax increases, and administrative costs are an increasingly visible part of those budgets.

The comparison also highlights a difference in scale that voters are beginning to notice.

State government operates with a multibillion-dollar budget and responsibilities that span public safety, transportation, health and human services, environmental regulation, corrections, higher education, and emergency management. Decisions made at the state level affect every municipality, employer, and taxpayer.

Most SAUs, by contrast, exist to manage K–12 education within a limited geographic area. While the job carries real responsibility, the size of the organization, budget, and population served is a fraction of that of state government.