Educator Salaries in Commack School District

Instruction costs are a major part of the school budget. But the public is rarely well informed of particulars. It seemed of interest to review some available data on the instruction cost structure at Commack Union Free School District (CUFSD).

The Teachers Retirement System (TRS) includes all full time teachers, teaching assistants, guidance counselors and administrators. Part time teachers can participate, but are not required to do so. The salary of each TRS member in NYS is periodically published, and is available online. The latest information for CUFSD applies to 2014-15, and it is briefly reviewed below.

CUFSD paid salary to 860 TRS members in 2014-15 ranging from $290K to $47, and totaling $77,557,918 (note that the salaries may not include all forms of compensation). The highest salaries went to the superintendent ($290K) and to the assistant superintendent for business ($203K). This is a pretty good salary for a superintendent who arrogantly refused to answer questions from a BOE trustee regarding the Corrective Action Plan to the NYS Comptroller.

Average salary for the total group of 860 members was $90.2K and the median was $107.4K. This was despite the fact that 145 members (16.86%) of the salaried employees in TRS had salaries less than $20,000. The percentile numbers were 25% ($48K), 50% ($107.4K), and 75% ($126K).

Of special interest is the fact that 50.9% of the listed CUFSD educators received salaries between $100,000 and $150,000. The associated average length of service for this group was 19 years. Considering $10.000 brackets, the highest density of employees (15.2%) occurred in the bracket between $120K - $130K. These numbers likely apply to full time teachers and administrators.

So, there is no need to worry about whether educators are well paid in the Commack S.D. A word of caution may however be in order: don’t stand in the exit from the teacher’s parking lot at 2:30 PM on any school day. .