Six school district educators in the North Country 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 Indian River CSD Superintendent Troy Decker, at $240,614.

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 North Country’s 7,232 full-time educators averaged $74,937, the lowest among the state’s nine regions outside New York City.

The North Country includes six counties: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence, as defined by the Office of the State Comptroller.

The full payroll data is available at SeeThroughNY.net.

School districts and BOCES in the North Country paid their 9,894 educators a total of $569 million. A total of 7.7 percent were paid $100,000 or more, compared with 34.6 percent statewide.

Among the findings:

• Beekmantown CSD (Clinton County) had the region’s highest average pay for full-time educators, $86,229, followed by Schroon Lake CSD ($85,598) and Northern Adirondack CSD ($83,577). Saint Regis Falls CSD had the lowest, $62,700.
• The region’s median full-year superintendent was paid $170,032, the lowest of nine regions, compared with $215,922 statewide.
• School districts in the North Country spent $9,416 in educator pay per student, eighth of nine regions, compared with $12,345 statewide.
• In Jefferson County, the median full-time educator was paid $72,464, 43 percent more than the median full-time worker living there ($50,785).

Ten Highest-Paid Educators – North Country

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 North Country. 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.