Lavish 2024-25 NY school staffer salaries, retirement packages draw ire from taxpayer watchdogs

New York taxpayers paid nearly $19.7 billion in the 2024-25 academic year for the salaries of 263,868 educators, a recent Newsday report found – drawing outrage from analysts who argue such payouts are fiscally irresponsible.

“We see it in superintendent contracts, we see it in teacher contracts, we see it in police contracts,” said Ken Girardin, former research director for Albany’s Empire Center for Public Policy. 

“There have been instances where payouts are so substantial that local governments go into debt and borrow to pay off these types of payments. The Legislature has the authority to limit this, and it would be entirely appropriate either to cap or prohibit certain types of payouts, in part because you are creating a future cost without setting aside adequate funds to pay for it.” 

‘The problem doesn’t go away’ 

The highest payments were concentrated in Long Island, part of New York City’s metropolitan area and known for “high living costs,” Newsday wrote. 

“In all, seven of the state’s 10 top-paid public-school employees in 2024-25 worked on Long Island,” the report noted, citing the example of Hank Grishman, a superintendent who netted a $662,478 retirement package. 

“(Grishman) topped the state’s latest compensation list for public school officials, according to payroll records obtained by Newsday. Another Long Island educator, Superintendent Allison Brown of Roslyn, was third on the list with compensation of $391,906, while Superintendent Francesco Ianni of Oyster Bay-East Norwich was No. 4 at $383,549.” 

The numbers follow a longtime trend of rising salaries and benefits, Newsday found. 

“Statewide, the number of educators earning $300,000 or more rose nearly 50% over three years, from 70 in 2022-23 to 92 the following year and 104 in 2024-25. Long Island’s numbers increased at a similar rate, from 44 in 2022-23 to 64 last school year.” 

The outlet compiled its review after using the state’s Freedom of Information Law to request data from the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System. 

Despite calls for government limits on payouts from watchdogs such as Girardin – now a research fellow at the Manhattan Institute – such legislative proposals have “routinely been defeated in State Assembly committees since 2016,” according to Newsday. 

“Last year, the State Legislature actually moved to boost pensions by basing calculations on the average of employees’ three highest salary years, down from five, for those hired after April 2012.” 

State Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick, R-St. James, has sponsored a number of bills to limit such payments since his election in 2002, Newsday wrote. 

“The problem doesn’t go away,” he told journalists in a phone interview. 

Public-school proponents such as Chuck Dedrick, executive director for the New York State Council of School Superintendents, argue high compensation is needed to incentivize educators “to leave their classrooms and become administrators.” 

“If this (payouts) were to go away, more people would be discouraged from taking administrative jobs, and that would be a disaster,” he said. 

However, taxpayer advocates such as Andrea Vecchio of East Islip reject such perspectives, noting these types of benefits rarely apply to private-sector employees. 

“These abuses are nothing new,” she said, referring to a 1992 incident where a former superintendent on the Island received over $900,000 in unused leave and retirement incentives, triggering protests statewide. “It’s got to stop.”