A recent KSTP 5 report found that the superintendents of the state’s 30 largest public school districts had eye-popping salaries and perks. The salaries of most superintendents ranged in the upper $200,000 range, with Minnetonka’s Dr. David Law taking home the highest-paid position at $298,917 per year, with up to $59,783 a year in performance pay if he meets certain goals. Almost two thirds of the superintendents had begun their tenure in the last five years.
Now, KSTP 5 has turned their accountability focus to the charter school world. A new report showcases the salaries of the highest earners within the state’s 30 largest charter schools.
The salaries showcased by KSTP 5 aren’t necessarily always those of the schools’ principals. Charter schools function like private schools in many ways, so some officials on staff are superintendents for a charter school network or are responsible for overseeing the school’s business practices. For example, the highest-paid charter school official in the state, Community School of Excellence’s Bao Vang ($250,000 per year) is listed as the CEO of the school. KSTP 5 noted that Community School of Excellence disputed the accuracy of Vang’s reported salary.
In 2024, the average public school salary in Minnesota for a superintendent was $158,188. The average public school salary for a principal was $121,430.
Charter schools receive less per pupil funding than traditional public schools do, meaning that financial discipline is an essential part of their success. Ideally, this scarcity means that dollars spent on a school leader are dollars that strongly increase student success.
The independent nature of charter schools means that schools with unstable finances or low test scores should face corrective action from the school’s authorizer (the independent organization that oversees the health of the school). Charter schools or charter school leaders that do not provide a quality education to their students should by design face corrective action from authorizers, including dismissal and school closures.
Minnesota’s charter school authorizer laws currently do not contain many of the legal guardrails recommended by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, leaving the health of the school largely in the hands of the school itself. Some charter schools in Minnesota have earned high test scores to great acclaim, and others court dysfunction and controversy without the intervention of an authorizer.
A recent Star-Tribune report on 50 Minnesota schools that “beat the odds” to deliver higher than expected test scores to students in poverty found that most of the metro area schools which “beat the odds” were charter schools.
Are these charter school officials worth the investment?
Since not every charter school official on KSTP 5’s list is a principal or superintendent (and thus are not directly able to personally impact test scores), I decided to compare each charter school’s reading and math proficiency scores with the state average.
Although some charter schools are designed to serve students who struggle in the traditional public school system (meaning that they self-select for academically struggling students) comparing the charter schools’ proficiency scores with the state average can serve as a temperature check on their efficacy.
In this way, a particular charter school’s struggles or successes can be seen. Mathematics and reading scores higher than the state average are colored green; lower are colored in red.
