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A survey of salaries among school administrators throughout the state has the Marshalltown Community School District in line as far as how it relates to schools of similar sizes.

Administrators from districts with higher enrollments than that of Marshalltown get more bucks for their job and the smaller ones tend to get less.

"I think we are not the highest paid and we are not the lowest paid," said Lisa Koester, director of human resources with the MCSD. "For our location and our community it's pretty reasonable."

New to the payroll in town this year is Dr. Marvin Wade, who took over as superintendent July 1. Wade signed a three-year deal which pays him $150,000 annually which was set by the school board. His new salary is about $24,000 more than what he was making at the school district he left in Colorado.

Koester said other administrators in the district coming in have salaries set by the superintendent.

"It has to do a lot where the last person left off and where that salary was," she said.

She noted they do take a look at what other districts are paying administrators to stay competitive in the market.

"We'll look at schools with our same enrollment size or in our conference because the job expectations are the same," she said.

The district that appears to mirror the pay of Marshalltown in several positions is Ottumwa where Superintendent Dr. Jon Sheldahl earns $150,400.

Taking a look at smaller districts there is a significant reduction in pay. Roland-Story's Superintendent Michael Billings has an annual salary of $106,67. The most lucrative superintendent job in the Iowa belongs to the state's biggest school district in Des Moines where Dr. Nancy Sebring makes more than $200,000.

The salary of the interim superintendent of Bettendorf this year is $168,028. The name of this superintendent should ring a bell locally as it is Dr. Harrison Cass. Cass retired from the Marshalltown district after four years as superintendent at the end of June and within weeks was hired at Bettendorf.

A consistent level of salary throughout those found was high school principal with most in the low $100,000 range. Marshalltown High School Principal Bonnie Lowry earns $102,873 per year. The highest paid principal in Marshalltown is Brad Clement of Miller Middle School who makes $104,900.

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Contact Andrew Potter at 641-753-6611 or apotter@timesrepublican.com