New Jersey's highest-paid school superintendent this year isn't running a single sprawling district — he's running two of them at once. Howard Lerner earned $346,189 during the 2025-26 school year for serving as full-time superintendent of both the Bergen County Vocational Technical School District and the Bergen County Special Services School District, making him the top earner among the state's district leaders.
According to NJ.com, Lerner's dual role puts him at the top of a list built from state-reported salary data, ahead of every other superintendent in New Jersey. His combined pay reflects two separate superintendent jobs rolled into one workload, rather than a single oversized district contract. Bergen County Special Services, one of the two districts Lerner oversees, describes itself as providing shared services to more than 165 districts statewide, according to njspecialservices.org, and it holds contracts with 44 school districts across Bergen and Passaic counties for non-public school services under state Chapter 192 and 193 programs.
Lerner's current total marks a jump from where his pay stood roughly a year earlier. Back in August 2024, when Jersey City's superintendent contract was making headlines, Lerner was reported as earning $319,134 annually, per the same NJ.com report on that contract. It's worth noting a separate outlet, the Courier-Post, put the current highest-paid superintendent's base salary at $319,000 for 2025-26 — a different figure than NJ.com's $346,189 total, suggesting the two reports may be measuring pay differently or drawing from different reporting windows.
Who's Chasing Lerner for the Top Spot
Jersey City's Norma Fernandez, who held the highest-paid superintendent title last year, now ranks second statewide. Fernandez earned $331,616 in 2024-25, according to Patch.com's analysis of state figures — though NJ.com separately reported her 2024-25 earnings at $322,272, a discrepancy the available data doesn't resolve. Either way, Fernandez remains near the top of the list as Jersey City's superintendent.
Rounding out the top tier, Newark's Roger Leon earned $330,978 in 2024-25 to rank third, according to Patch.com. Teresa Segarra of Maria L. Varisco-Rogers Charter School followed in fourth at $327,600, with Hudson County's Silvia Abbato fifth at $300,719. Passaic County's Laurienne Newell earned $296,514 to rank sixth, while West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional's David Aderhold, at $296,351, came in seventh.
A Widening Gap in District Leadership Pay
The list stretches well beyond the top few names. Mercer County's Michael Lasusa ($295,000) and Hudson County's Clara Herrera ($294,389) rank eighth and ninth, followed by Middlesex County's Edward Aldarelli ($293,786), Hudson County's George Solter ($291,110), and Middlesex County's Victor Valeski ($290,916). Monmouth-Ocean Educational Services Commission's William George earned $290,460, a figure that also appears tied to his separate role at the Bayshore Jointure Commission School District, placing him in both the 13th and 14th spots on the ranking.
Bergen County's Michael Ben-David and Monmouth County's Jessica Alfone each earned $290,000, ranking 15th and 16th respectively. Bergen County's Richard Tomko ($286,062), Essex County's Daniel Fishbein ($286,000), and Passaic County's David Cittadino ($285,000) filled out the next tier. Middlesex County's Aubrey Johnson ($284,947), Middlesex County's David Roman ($281,644), Camden County's Henry Poteat ($280,194), and charter school leader Deborah Pontoriero ($278,250) closed out the top 23 named in the analysis.
How the Numbers Stack Up Statewide
Statewide, at least five New Jersey superintendents earned more than $300,000 during the 2025-26 school year, and roughly 80 earned more than $250,000, according to the NJ.com analysis. The average full-time superintendent salary across the state sat at $203,000 for 2025-26 — a figure that dwarfs the national average superintendent salary of $131,171 for 2024-25, as cited by a school superintendent association. At least 18 New Jersey superintendents split duties between two districts, a structure similar to Lerner's arrangement in Bergen County, according to state data.
A year earlier, the statewide picture looked similar in shape if not in exact dollars. New Jersey's average superintendent salary was $197,444 in 2024-25, a 1.95 percent increase from $193,671 the prior year, based on figures covering 521 full-time, permanent superintendents with no other district roles, according to NJ.com's separate reporting on that year's data. Five superintendents cleared $300,000 that year as well, with another 17 earning at least $270,000. Separately, Patch.com's analysis of the same period put the statewide average at $202,653, with a median of $201,756 — a modest difference from NJ.com's figure that the underlying data doesn't fully reconcile. Patch also found that more than 400 of the 586 superintendents listed by the New Jersey Department of Education earned more than the $169,343 national average tracked by the American Association of School Administrators.
The salary figures driving these rankings come from the state's Certificated Staff Database, which is self-reported by districts to the New Jersey Department of Education, according to NJ.com's earlier report on the data. That self-reporting structure is also why year-to-year and outlet-to-outlet comparisons can shift depending on when and how each district submits its numbers.
