Briarcliff Manor SD Superintendent Dr. James Kaishian is the highest earning K-12 educator in Westchester
By Dan Murphy
Should anyone working in one of the 37 school districts in Westchester County be earning more than $300,000 per year? We say NO, and so does the Empire Center, who recently released their list of educators across New York State who made more than $200,000 per year.
Meet Dr. James Kaishian, the Superintendent of the Briarcliff Manor school district. Dr. Kaishian is the top earning educator in Westchester, according to the Empire Centers SeeThroughNY.net portal, at $363,353.
Kaishian is one of 12 Westchester educators making more than $300,00 per year, with the summers off.
Next up is White Plains Superintendent Dr. Joseph Ricca, at $351,909.
White Plains Superintendent Joseph Ricca
Coming it at #3-is Oliver Levy, the former Superintendent of the Greenburgh-Graham school in Hastings. Levy is the former Superintendent because he was charged by Westchester District Attorney Susan Cacace is misusing school district funds for personal use.
#4-Dr. Christine Ackerman-Superintendent, Chappaqua school district -$337,954
#5-Dr. Eric Byrne-Superintendent Rye City school district-$329,177
#6-Dr. Drew Patrick, Superintendent, Scarsdale school district-$325,552.
#7-Dr. Rachel Kelly, Superintendent, Bronxville school district-$320,485.
#8-Dr. Jennifer Lamia, Superintendent, Byram Hills school district-$320,049.
#9-Dara Joseph, Acting Superintendent, Greenburgh-Graham school -$311,588.
#10-Andrew Selesnick, Superintendent, Katonah-Lewisboro school district-$306,217.
#11-Luis Rodriquez, Yonkers School district-$305,152. Note: Rodriguez was named interim Superintendent during the 2023-24 school year.
#12-Dr. Corey Reynolds, New Rochelle school district, $304, 717
#13-Dr. David Mauricio, Peekskill school district, $304,019.
#14-Dr. Ron Hattar, Yorktown school district, $302,783.
#15-Leonard Skuggevik-Superintendent, Tuckahoe School district, $301,904.
#16-Brian Ladewig, Superintendent Harrison School district, $301,832.
Here is the release from Empire Center, (empirecenter.org).
The number of school district employees receiving a total compensation of more than $200,000 have more than doubled since 2019, according to new salary data posted today at SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s transparency website. The public educator pay data are based on Fiscal Year 2023-24 salary information reported to New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS), which covers 239,254 public school teachers and administrators employed outside New York City. The data posted, also includes pay records for 139,121 school district employees, who are members of the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS).
A total of 75,056 school district employees received six figure compensation – representing nearly one-third (31.3%) of NYSTRS educators. Out of these, 81 educators received more than $300,000, and 1,688 received more than $200,000. The majority (76 percent) of those employees who received six-figure compensation were employed in downstate suburban districts, including 33,834 on Long Island and 18,622 in Westchester, Orange, and Rockland counties.
Benjamin Ciuffo, a now retired Assistant Superintendent at the Jericho Union Free School District received the highest total pay of $599,524. Among the upstate regions, Timothy Backus, who recently retired as the Deputy Superintendent at South Colonie Central School District, topped the list with a total pay of $443,517.
The average for full-time employees – defined here as any employee paid more than the annualized lowest statewide minimum wage – during the 2023-2024 school year was $94,732. Full-time employees on Long Island and in the Mid-Hudson region earned the highest average pay at $116,066 and $110,830 respectively. Further upstate, the Western New York Region was the highest paying region ($81,891); the lowest paying region was the North Country ($71,127).
Full-time NYSTRS members in 202 school districts averaged more than $100,000 in pay – the highest being Scarsdale Union Free School District ($149,705), where nearly 90 percent of its 530 educators received over $100,000.
