IT Trends

School Superintendent Pay in CA Overshadows Top IT Leader Salaries

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 11/15/16

The highest paid school superintendent in the state of California earns almost two and a half times more than the highest paid K–12 IT leader did. James Hammond, superintendent at Ontario-Montclair School District, with nearly 22,000 students, earns $516,573 annually for pay and benefits. John Krull earned $213,334 a year as chief technology officer for Oakland Unified, with 49,100 students. Krull left that job to become CIO this week at Seattle Public Schools, with 54,000 students. Details about his new pay package were unavailable.

The compensation information comes from Transparent California, a website that publishes salary records for employees of K–12 public and charter schools, special districts, colleges and universities, as well as cities and counties.

The highest salaries go to the IT individuals who work for county offices of education. In the top 10 list of K–12 education-related IT salaries, the top two spots are held by individuals who help oversee multiple districts in the state. After that, Los Angeles Unified, the largest school district in the country, with 639,000 students, dominates the rankings with four of the highest salaries.

Size of district by student count doesn't necessarily correlate to higher salaries. For example, the head of IT at tiny Arcadia Unified earns $10,000 more than the chief of IT at Glendale Unified, which has 170 percent more students.

With Krull gone from the state, the top 10 highest salaries for school officials in IT reported by Transparent California were:

1. Jonathan Allen, $201,289
Executive director of IT services at Alameda County Office of Education, which oversees 18 school districts with 225,000 students

2. Richard D'Souza, $197,153
Executive director of IT Services at Riverside County Office of Education, which oversees 24 districts in the county with about 426,000 students

3. Daphne Congdon Castillo, $196,462
Director of IT finance and administration at Los Angeles Unified with 639,000 students

4. James Alther, $195,615
Chief technology director at Los Angeles Unified with 639,000 students

5. Themistocles Sparangis, $194,734
Senior Director, IT, IT customer service at Los Angeles Unified with 639,000 students

6. Joseph Zeligs, $193,527.32
IT director at Santa Clara Unified with 17,000 students

7. Roger Smith, $182,731.86
Director of Information Services at Tulare County Office of Education, which oversees 43 school districts in the county with about 100,000 students

8. Scott Bramley, $179,677
Director of technology and IS for Arcadia Unified with about 9,600 students

9. Frank Schlueter, $169,605
Director, educational technology and IS at Glendale Unified with about 26,000 students

10. Janice Lim, $168,595
Director of IT security at Los Angeles Unified with 639,000 students