REPORT: Arizona’s School Superintendents Receive ‘Richest Contracts in Public Service’

In the latest Arizona Department of Education School District Report Card, 26 percent of students were proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) and 21 percent of students were proficient in Math, yet Arizona’s school superintendents receive some of the richest contracts in public service.

According to a new report by the Goldwater Institute, The Hidden Ways Arizona School Superintendents Are Paid, the superintendent base salaries “are merely the tip of the iceberg, and the publicly reported superintendent pay captures only a fraction of the total cost.” The report uncovers the hidden benefits and perks: car allowances, stipends, pension boosts, and cash for unused vacation time. The result is one of the most lucrative forms of public employment in the state. 

Arizona is home to 661 school districts that are comprised of 236 traditional districts and 425 charter districts. The report highlights the difficulty in obtaining public records from the largest districts:

Over the course of four months, Goldwater obtained and analyzed contracts from 41 of Arizona’s largest districts. Few gave them up willingly. Districts delayed, demanded steep fees, or simply refused until legal threats forced disclosure. The resistance to transparency was a rule, not an exception: 40 of the 41 districts had failed to post contracts online or even attach them to board packets, despite clear requirements under Arizona law. Ten districts earned a failing grade for transparency.

All but one of 41 surveyed districts failed to publicly disclose the provisions of their superintendent pay packages, with 10 districts receiving an “F” grade in public transparency based on their responses to our clear, simple public– records requests for superintendent contracts.

The Goldwater Institute found that:

• While superintendent base salaries average approximately $215,000 a year, taxpayers are charged up to $490,000 per superintendent after accounting for other lucrative perks.
• Taxpayers pay up to $1,250 per month for some superintendents to receive monthly “car allowances,” a price large enough to lease a Corvette or purchase a brand-new vehicle roughly every 2-3 years.
• Dozens of districts are double charging taxpayers for superintendents’ retirement packages, funding private retirement accounts on top of their already generous state pension benefits. The Phoenix Union High School District, for example, spends over $45,000 per year on employer contributions to a personal retirement account for the superintendent, in addition to what taxpayers already spend for her public pension.
• Taxpayers are paying for generous personal and vacation leave banks for superintendents—totaling up to 80 days (15 weeks) off when combined with school holidays, for which they are also paid to be off. Many of these days can be “cashed out” annually or upon leaving the district for considerably more pay.
• One superintendent — Jeremy Calles, of the Tolleson Union High School District — is making nearly half a million dollars per year. That’s over $100,000 more than any other superintendent in Arizona— even though his district ranks only 16th in size and posts mediocre academic results.

“For taxpayers, the secrecy should set off alarms. “Superintendents are not just any employee—they are the CEOs of their districts, the highest-paid public servants in many counties. They are also the only officials directly accountable to the elected school board. The superintendent’s job is important, and high salaries may be justified. But the current system of secrecy and delay erodes public trust,” said Christopher Thomas, Goldwater’s Director of Legal Strategy for Education Policy.