Educators' pay: More than 31,000 on Long Island earn at least $100,000 a year 

Long Island is home to one of the nation's largest concentrations of well-paid educators, with more than 31,000 teachers and other professionals earning $100,000 a year and up, and more than 12,000 of those earning at least $140,000, a Newsday analysis found. 

That means a majority of educational professionals in the Nassau-Suffolk region — about 57% — have six-figure salaries. 

Among those public school employees, 663 reported compensation packages totaling $200,000 or more for the 2021-22 school year and 36 of them had packages worth at least $300,000, Newsday learned. Teacher-union representatives said relatively high pay helps educators cope with the region's steep cost of living and also aids in recruiting job applicants. 

Salaries of education professionals represent the biggest single cost item for public school systems, which accounts for more than 60% of property taxes in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Next month, school districts will start putting together their tax and budget proposals for 2023-24. 

For its salary review, Newsday obtained records from the New York State Teachers' Retirement System, using the state's Freedom of Information Law. Records covered statewide payrolls for more than 253,000 teachers and other professionals, such as administrators, counselors and librarians. These included about 54,800 employees on the Island. 

Total earnings commonly include payouts for unused sick and vacation days, as well as regular salaries, for individuals about to retire. In addition, many superintendents and other top administrators are awarded extra dollars in the form of tax-deferred annuities and other benefits. 

Marianne Cartisano, former superintendent in the Miller Place district, ranked at the top of the state's compensation list for public school employees. Cartisano retired in July with a final annual package of $483,323, after working nearly 20 years in the district. Earnings included a $270,487 salary, according to state records, together with payouts for unused sick days and other remuneration.

In a news release, the Miller Place district credited Cartisano with establishing a full-day kindergarten program and universal prekindergarten classes, as well as establishing a superior bond rating. The district in northern Brookhaven Town enrolls about 2,450 students and operates on a $76.5 million annual budget. 

Cartisano, in a phone interview, noted that she had served both as assistant superintendent for business and superintendent in Miller Place. She added that her long experience as an educator helped in expanding academic programs, bolstering school security and keeping classes running during most of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Leadership matters, stability matters, when you're the head executive officer of a $76-million-a-year organization," she said. 

Another district, Central Islip, had the largest number of employees ranked among the top two dozen earners. A total of six teachers in the district had packages ranging from $324,013 to $467,985, state records showed. The district's superintendent, Sharon Dungee, stated that all six professionals had retired, and that figures included payouts for unused sick and vacation days, as well as salaries.

LI average: More than $111,000 annually

Islandwide, earnings for full-time educators average $111,262 annually, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank in Albany. That dollar amount is the highest for any region in New York State and also exceeds average salaries reported by other states.

Center analysts reported that the number of educators statewide receiving six-figure salaries grew by 50% over the last 10 years, and that the Island's figure increased 1.7% between 2020-21 and 2021-22. 

Tim Hoefer, the Empire Center's president, questioned whether New York's taxpayers were getting their money's worth. He noted that state testing last spring of students in grades 3-8 showed "mediocre" results — for example, with just over 40% of Island students scoring proficient or better in math.

"Despite educational results that continue to hover around mediocre, pay for educators has continued to climb, especially on Long Island," Hoefer said in a recent message to Newsday.

New York State United Teachers, a union umbrella group, responded with its own statement, noting that teachers statewide are required to hold master's degrees and undergo periodic professional training. 

 "Our educators should be paid like the highly trained and skilled professionals they are," stated the union, which represents more than 600,000 teachers and other professionals statewide. "It's common knowledge that the cost of living on Long Island is higher than in other parts of the state. As a result, teachers in this region receive salaries commensurate with the cost of living, as do professionals in other fields."

'Above and beyond'

Locally, teacher representatives noted that they often faced an uphill struggle in delivering lessons to students during the COVID-19 pandemic, when much of the instruction had to be delivered to students' homes via the internet. 

"Teachers have worked incredibly hard under incredible circumstances for the last several years," said Tony Felicio Jr., president of a 640-member teachers union in the Connetquot district. "They continue to go above and beyond to work, not only on academics, but on the myriad social and emotional experiences that children bring to school on a daily basis." 

Some advocacy groups contend that, even in New York State, where pay scales are relatively high, teachers are losing ground financially to professionals in other fields. The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington, D.C., think tank, reported in August that teachers in this state faced a 13.2% gap in weekly wages, compared with earnings for professionals in other fields. 

The report's author, Sylvia Allegretto, told Newsday that pay gaps stemmed from the fact that public education, like nursing, historically enlisted women, because they had fewer options than men and were willing to work for less money. Allegretto added that in the future, schools could face increasing difficulty in recruiting female job candidates as their options widen in other career fields.

"Teaching should be one of the most sought-after professions in the country, because we want the best and the brightest attracted to the profession," said Allegretto, a senior economist and researcher. "The only way you can do that is with highly trained, highly paid, highly sought-after kids who are considering college now and are just not opting for degrees in education, because it's just not attractive."