The number of school district employees outside New York City who are paid more than $100,000 jumped from 32,914 in 2008-09 to 48,703 in 2013-14 — a 48 percent increase in the past five years. 

In the Capital Region, Shenendehowa Central School District, East Greenbush Central School District and Troy Enlarged City School District are on this list, and Saratoga Springs City School District has two administrators in the area’s top 20. 

The data, posted Thursday at government transparency project SeeThroughNY.net, show that the highest-paid school employee in 2014 was Riverhead Central Schools Assistant Superintendent Joseph Ogeka Jr., who earned $376,340.

The lists of the 50 highest-paid school employees outside New York City and of the 20 highest-paid school employees in each region can be viewed at www.empirecenter.org.

Former Niskayuna Central Schools Superintendent Susan Kay Salvaggio, No. 17 on the state list, earned $289,588 in 2013-14, at the top of the Central Region list. When she resigned from her position April 15, she received a lump-sum payment of $139,000 as part of a severance package that also called for the district to provide family health coverage to her for those next 14 months.

“In Ms. Salvaggio’s case, the cited $289,588 figure includes her pay as well as any severance and/or vacation-/sick-time payout,” wrote Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, which sponsors SeeThroughNY, in an email to The Saratogian.

Shenendehowa Superintendent L. Oliver Robinson made $213,916, and East Greenbush Superintendent Angela M. Nagle earned $194,931 in 2014.

In Troy, Superintendent John A. Carmello made $173,942, and in Saratoga Springs, Superintendent Michael Piccirillo earned $171,731, while Assistant Superintendent for Business Kurt Jaeger made $169,962.

The newly updated database includes pay information for 367,867 employees, as reported to the New York State Teachers Retirement System for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2014, and to the New York State and Local Retirement System for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2014.

Not reflected in the data are the costs of fringe benefits such as healthcare, pension contributions and other employee benefits.

Also not reflected in the data is what these educators do to earn their pay. See Saratoga Springs district administrator portraits at www.saratogian.com for a local example. Also note this is not starting pay; many of these educators have working for years to reach their current level, as have those employed in other fields. 

“When you look at a list of salaries like this, having context helps, and there are plenty of places to find that,” said District Superintendent James Dexter, who oversees the 31 school districts of the Washington Saratoga Warren Hamilton Essex Board of Cooperative Educational Services. “We do live in a transparent world, so it’s good to show people what we are paying our administrators and employees. They do great work.”

People can use the SeeThroughNY website to examine state and local government expenditures, including payrolls, pensions, state legislators’ office expenditures and pork-barrel “member-item” projects. SeeThroughNY also includes a benchmarking tool that lets users compare property taxes in different jurisdictions across New York. The site launched July 31, 2008.