New NC superintendent, other Council of State members to make $127K a year

North Carolina's newly elected state superintendent and eight other Council of State members will each make $127,561 this year, as required by law.

Posted 10:35 p.m. Jan 9, 2017 — Updated 1:01 p.m. Jan 10, 2017

Kelly Hinchcliffe

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina's newly elected state superintendent and eight other Council of State members will each make $127,561 this year, as required by law.

State lawmakers raised their salaries 1.5 percent as of July 1 as part of the short session's budget bill. Those positions previously made $125,676 a year.

The governor is the only member of the Council of State with a higher salary – $144,399 a year.

Council of State members include:

Lieutenant Governor
Attorney General
Secretary of State
State Treasurer
State Auditor
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Agriculture Commissioner
Insurance Commissioner
Labor Commissioner

Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson's pay differs from the 115 local public school superintendents in the state.

His salary is set by lawmakers, while local superintendents' pay comes from two sources – a state portion, which is based on the number of students in the district, and a local portion, which is set by the local school board and varies greatly by district.

WRAL News reported on the perks some local superintendents received in their contracts in 2013, including cars, gym memberships, money for mortgage payments, extra vacation time and thousands of dollars in bonuses.

Johnson does not have a contract since he is elected, but he does get to use a state-owned car and cellphone, according to Vanessa Jeter, communications director for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

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