POCATELLO — The state’s largest superintendent pay raise came out of East Idaho this year.
Pocatello-Chubbuck School District Superintendent Doug Howell’s annual salary is $130,335 — more than a $17,000 raise from 2015-16.
(To see what your superintendent makes, click here.)
Trustees say Howell’s recent appointment as the district’s permanent superintendent contributed largely to the 15 percent bump in pay. The district hired Howell as interim superintendent in July 2015, with an agreed raise from $110,000 to $123,000 when he received his superintendent certification.
Howell earned that certification within a year and got the pay increase. But he also cashed in on a round of raises for teachers and administrators in the district, said Pocatello-Chubbuck School Board chair Janie Gebhardt. As a result, Howell’s annual salary ticked passed $130,000 — settling to No. 12 on the statewide list.
Gebhardt said trustees have been pleased with Howell’s performance so far and defended decisions to edge his salary upward because of the district’s size.
“I feel that we’ve really been playing catchup in regards to the superintendent salary here,” Gebhardt said. “You have to consider the fact that we are the fourth largest district in the state, yet he (Howell) is still the twelfth on the list.”
(Pocatello-Chubbuck is currently the fourth largest district in Idaho, with more than 12,400 students.)
Here’s a list of the state’s five highest superintendents’ salaries:
- GwenCarol Holmes, Blaine County: $173,880.
- Don Coberly, Boise: $167,212.
- Mary Ann Ranells, West Ada: $162,000.
- Matthew Handelman, Coeur d’Alene: $147,553.
- Charles Shackett, Bonneville: $145,819.
(This information was obtained from the State Department of Education and does not include the salaries of charter school administrators.)
