These Hudson Valley School Administrators Are Among The Highest Paid In NY, According To Watchdog

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — It might not come as a surprise that school administrators in the Hudson Valley are among the highest paid in the state, but a just-released list of of the highest-paid school officials in the region does offer a few surprises.

A total of 752 school district educators in the Mid-Hudson region were paid more than $200,000 in fiscal year 2025-26, according to payroll data reported to the New York State Teachers' Retirement System. Of those, 34 were paid more than $300,000.

The highest paid in the region was Northeast CSD Superintendent Raymond Castellani, at $389,357.

The figures were included in the Empire Center's annual educator pay report, which examines pay at school districts and BOCES outside New York City. Statewide, 239,288 public school teachers, superintendents, principals and other administrators employed outside New York City were paid a total of $19.4 billion, according to the report. Full-time educators statewide averaged $99,652.

In the Mid-Hudson region, 39,473 full-time educators averaged $117,045, second among the state's nine regions outside New York City, according to the report. The region includes Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties, as defined by the Office of the State Comptroller.

School districts and BOCES in the Mid-Hudson region paid their 46,666 educators a total of $4.7 billion, according to the report. It found that 54.3 percent were paid $100,000 or more, compared with 34.6 percent statewide. Among the region's 113 districts and BOCES, 93 averaged more than $100,000 for full-time educators.

Scarsdale UFSD had the region's highest average pay for full-time educators at $156,307, while Liberty CSD had the lowest at $88,689, according to the report.

Here are the top-paid school officials in the Mid-Hudson region, according to the report.

The region's median full-year superintendent was paid $279,225, second of nine regions, compared with $215,922 statewide. A total of 54 superintendents in the region were paid more than the governor's $250,000 salary.

The report also found that school districts in the Mid-Hudson region spent $14,166 in educator pay per student, second of nine regions, compared with $12,345 statewide. In Rockland County, the median full-time educator was paid $124,270, which the report said was 60 percent more than the median full-time worker living there, at $77,710.

The Empire Center, based in Albany, describes itself as an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank. The full payroll data is available here, and the report includes pay at every school district and BOCES outside New York City, superintendent pay, educator pay per student, and comparisons with local earnings.

You can read the full Empire Center annual educator pay report here.