A total of 21 school district educators in the Southern Tier were paid more than $200,000 in fiscal year 2025-26, according to payroll data reported to the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS). The highest paid was Ithaca City SD Superintendent Luvelle Brown, at $292,442.

Statewide, the 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 Empire Center’s annual educator pay report. Full-time educators averaged $99,652. The Southern Tier’s 11,291 full-time educators averaged $77,446, eighth among the state’s nine regions outside New York City.

The Southern Tier includes nine counties: Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Otsego, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins, as defined by the Office of the State Comptroller.

The full payroll data is available at SeeThroughNY.net.

School districts and BOCES in the Southern Tier paid their 14,562 educators a total of $904 million. A total of 9.0 percent were paid $100,000 or more, compared with 34.6 percent statewide.

Among the findings:

• Windsor CSD (Broome County) had the region’s highest average pay for full-time educators, $88,889, followed by Susquehanna Valley CSD ($86,535) and Owego-Apalachin CSD ($86,248). Schenevus CSD had the lowest, $62,352.
• The region’s median full-year superintendent was paid $180,672, eighth of nine regions, compared with $215,922 statewide. Four superintendents were paid more than the governor’s $250,000 salary.
• School districts in the Southern Tier spent $9,579 in educator pay per student, seventh of nine regions, compared with $12,345 statewide.
• In Broome County, the median full-time educator was paid $78,377, 38 percent more than the median full-time worker living there ($56,908).

Ten Highest-Paid Educators – Southern Tier

Figures are gross pay reported to NYSTRS for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, and do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions. Full-time educators are those paid more than the annualized state minimum wage ($32,240). Tallies exclude community colleges, charter schools, the Education Department, vocational boards and the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Explore the Data

The tables below open filtered to the Southern Tier. Use the filters to see any other region.

Payroll records for every school district and BOCES can be searched at the Empire Center’s transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net.