State records show that 43,405 public school employees, including administrators and teachers, were paid at least $100,000 during the 2012-13 academic year.

Of those, 817 in the Capital Region earned six-figure salaries, with 11 making more than Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2013 salary of $175,277.

Topping the Capital Region list for K-12 pay was Shenendehowa Superintendent Oliver Robinson at $210,065, according to data from the New York State Teachers Retirement System analyzed by the Buffalo-based Business First publication.

A look at the Capital Region’s top K-12 salaries indicated that most of the six-figure payouts went to administrators such as superintendents.

Second-highest in the region went to former Niskayuna Superintendent Susan Salvaggio, who was listed at $194,295. She stepped down in April and received a $139,000 severance package that will require district taxpayers to fund her health coverage for the next 14 months.

The statewide tally of 43,405 six-figure earners does not include those within the separate New York City teachers pension system.

And the data was limited to pay, excluding the cost of many fringe benefits such as pensions and health coverage. Such costs can easily add a third or more to an individual’s compensation package.

Until a few weeks ago, data maintained by Teachers Retirement System had been kept secret.

The Empire Center, which operates a website of public payrolls dubbed SeeThroughNY, sued the teachers system for access to the information, and won. (The Times Union had been a party to that suit.)

Comparisons to the governor’s salary are notable since Cuomo has been critical of superintendent salaries, and even proposed legislation that would cap superintendent pay at $175,000 and limit leaders of smaller districts to $125,000.

At the time, about a third of the state’s more than 660 superintendents earned more than $175,000. While the cap would have saved $15 million, the proposal didn’t become law.

Superintendents at the time said a cap would make it difficult to hire people for the job.

“If they are making more than the governor it certainly … makes me wonder where that disparity in pay comes from,” said Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center.

Hoefer didn’t say that superintendents are overpaid, but said having the information readily available can help people make decisions about how and where to spend their tax dollars.

Overall, superintendent salaries are a “drop in the bucket” of school costs, he said, because there are so many more teachers than superintendents.

There can also be links between administrators’ and teachers’ remuneration, with pay increases from one influencing the other.

Bob Lowry, deputy director of the state Superintendents Council, said that pay increases have eased or even stopped since 2011, when many district leaders accepted freezes in keeping with the state’s tax cap, which can limit school spending.

“We are seeing (school) boards hiring new superintendents at lower salaries than what used to be the case,” said Lowry, who said the average salary for the post in the coming school year is $167,787, according to the State Education Department.

“There are a lot of state employees who make more than the governor,” he added.

Previous studies and media reports have illustrated how more than 1,000 people in the medical fields or technical pursuits, or at top jobs in the state university system, earn more than the governor.

For the most part, pay scales are lower upstate, where the cost of living is less than in Long Island, Westchester, Rockland and the lower Hudson Valley.

Topping the list statewide outside of New York City was Syosset, Long Island Superintendent Carole Hankin, who was listed in the database at $511,333.

Public school salaries