How area schools compare

By KREMENA TODOROVA

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- New Ulm ranked 86th out of 341 districts compared in a State Auditor's report on superintendents compensation.

District 88 Superintendent Harold Remme's total compensation was calculated at $101,013 a year, which included $92,004 in salary, $3,882 in other monetary compensation, $3,600 in a vehicle allowance and $10,527 in bonus/performance pay. The report listed Remme's post-severance benefits at $20,177.

Remme's total compensation was somewhat larger than the state average of $93,008, and his salary compared to an average salary of $89,726.

The hypothetical average superintendent was also entitled to $5,353 in salary in lieu of insurance, $5,025 in bonus/performance pay, $4,095 in other monetary compensation, $3,839 in leave cash-outs and $3,359 in a vehicle allowance -- as well as $30,428 in a severance payouts and $48,519 in post-severance benefits. As in Remme's case, not all contracts included all of these extra benefits, and a few contracts on the lower end of the list limited total compensation to salary.

The hypothetical average school district referenced in the above numbers was very close in size to (just slightly smaller than) New Ulm.

Statewide, superintendents' compensation ranged from an atypical low of $767 a year to a high of $185,585.

The report did not list median numbers.

Predictably, metro area superintendents received the largest compensation. Just two non-metro districts, Elk River and Owatonna, were listed in the top 25 in the state in terms of the size of superintendents' compensation.

Of "comparable-sized" districts, districts such Hutchinson, St. Peter and Worthington paid superintendents more than New Ulm, and districts such as Fairmont and Waseca paid them less.

In some geographically close districts, Redwood Falls' superintendent received $94,834 in total annual compensation; G.F.W.'s superintendent received $90,000; Sibley East's superintendent received $85,000; Nicollet's superintendent received $84,520; Springfield's superintendent received $80,760; and Sleepy Eye's superintendent received $78,864.