The Texas Education Agency (TEA) recently updated its superintendent salary database, revealing some intriguing new information about the take-home pay for public education elites.
According to TEA’s 2025-26 dataset, there were 1,220 full- and part-time superintendent positions filled this year at 187 open-enrollment charter schools and 1,033 traditional school districts. For each of these positions, TEA provides select details, including ‘base pay’ and ‘total pay.’ Base pay is defined as “total payroll amount where payroll activity code is 80. (Does not include supplemental pay),”while total pay describes “the sum of the employee’s base salary and supplemental salary.”
When sorted according to total pay, the top 25 highest earners received compensation of between $411,061 and $655,737 annually. All but one superintendent (i.e., Sehba Ali, KIPP Public Schools) was employed by a traditional school district.
The most well-compensated superintendent was Harlandale ISD’s superintendent, whose pay package totaled $655,737. Harlandale ISD’s student enrollment totaled just 11,114 students and its most recent A – F accountability score was a ‘D’ letter grade.
Following this curious development, the next highest paying districts and their letter grades included: Birdville ISD ($551,576; A – F score: ‘C’); Cypress-Fairbanks ISD ($520,231; A – F score: ‘B’); Barbers Hill ISD ($513,061; A – F score: ‘A’); Klein ISD ($508,554; A – F score: ‘B’); Killeen ISD ($508,057; A – F score: ‘C’).
It remains unclear why some superintendents are compensated so greatly when their district’s academic performance is subpar.
For the remaining superintendents, see the chart below. Or to view the complete list, be sure to explore the TEA’s superintendent salary reports tool.
Top 25 Highest Paid Superintendents in Texas, Sorted By Total Pay
