Thousands of newly retired school administrators will earn more during retirement than most Californians will make during their working careers.

The number of educators receiving $100,000-plus annual pensions jumped 650 percent from 2005 to 2011, going from 700 to 5,400, according to a Bee review of data from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

Though they make up just 2 percent of CalSTRS pensions, six-figure payouts are a focus of pension reform discussions under way at the Capitol. Six-figure retirees eat 7 percent of CalSTRS benefits and can ultimately get millions more than they put into the system.

Booming administrator salaries are largely behind the trend. Public school superintendents, on average, earned $168,000 in base pay last year, roughly 56 percent more than they did 10 years ago, according to data from the California Department of Education.

“Top-level management … start their careers at a higher wage level, see larger percentage increases than their classroom colleagues, and they still manage to work long careers,” said CalSTRS spokesman Ricardo Duran.

A series of benefit enhancements a decade ago also explain the rise. Experienced teachers and administrators can now make a pension equal to 2.4 percent of their highest pay for each year of service, up from a flat 2 percent. Largely as a result, more than a third of the state’s six-figure pensioners earn more each year in retirement than they ever did on the job.

The number of six-figure pensions will likely continue to rise as more highly paid baby boomers reach the end of their careers.

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