By Ad Astra News
McPHERSON, Kan. — The recent $19.400 raise given to McPherson USD 418 Superintendent of Schools Shiloh Vincent raised a lot of eyebrows, especially among critics of the current district administration and Board of Education. A question asked by some is how his salary compares to other superintendents of similarly sized districts.
Ad Astra News reviewed data compiled by the Kansas Association of School Boards which issues a report each year on superintendent salaries. The most recent data from KASB is from the 2022-23 school year and is based on contracted Salaries.
Dr. Vincent’s 2022-23 salary of $140,600 was the lowest of the 11 superintendents of 4A school districts in the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League, and the 10th lowest of the 35 current 4A public school districts. For the 2023-24 school year McPherson High School is the largest school in 4A.
4A superintendent salaries range from a low of $121,359 in the Rock Creek School District, which is one of the smallest districts in the class, to a high of $226,182 in Coffeyville. The top salary of 4A AVCTL superintendents in 2022-23 was $176,164 salary paid by Rose Hill USD 394.
Looking at the two closest 4A districts to McPherson, Abilene and Buhler, there was a wide variation in superintendent pay. Abilene USD 435’s superintendent had a salary of $131,774 while Buhler USD 313 Superintendent Cindy Couchman had a 2022-23 salary of $159,396. That is $604 less than Vincent’s 2023-24 salary approved by the USD 418 Board of Education October 9th.
In terms of the other AVCTL superintendents, KASB reported these salaries.
Augusta $147,061
Circle $173,690
Clearwater $152,124
El Dorado $159,800
Mulvane $146,442
Renwick $152,208 (This is Andale’s district, which also has a 2A high school)
Wellington $145,580
Winfield $145,673
Other current 4A district salaries for the 2022-23 school year
Atchison $160,359
Baldwin $125,480
Chanute $142,760
Clay Center $156,334
Concordia $129,625
Eudora $150,190
Fort Scott $136,713
Holton $138,847
Hugoton $153,802
Independence $169,206
Labette County $132,388
Louisburg $207,739
Ottawa $175,325
Paola $166,287
Parsons $148,800
Pratt $139,700
Scott City $158,808
Tonganoxie $176,208
Ulysses $160,427
Wamego $135,000
Also for comparison, we looked at the smallest 5A schools that are single high school districts.
Arkansas City $203,920
Bonner Springs $185,596 (The smallest current 5A school)
Hays $185,206
Lansing $152,409
