You would think running the country pays the most. That is not true in Fairfax County, Virginia. Michelle Reid, the schools superintendent there, earns $469,936 a year. The President of the United States makes nearly $70,000 less to run the whole executive branch and command the armed forces. This is not a typo or a one-time bonus. It is the official salary for leading a district with about 180,000 students. The numbers come straight from public records that the Daily Signal reviewed.
Reid is just the tip of the iceberg. The district has a small army of executives who all make big money. A Division Counsel, a Chief Financial Officer, and a Chief Information Technology Officer are among the three executives who each get $305,694. Four more chiefs make $288,064. Even the lowest-paid assistant superintendents clear $241,475. Every single one of the 71 top positions captured in these records earns over $200,000.
The math gets even stranger when you look at the totals. The top 10 highest-paid Fairfax employees collect $3.13 million in combined salary. This sum exceeds the total expense for Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s 12-member cabinet. Her group manages education, health, and public safety across the entire Commonwealth of Virginia. Their total payroll is only $2.78 million. So, ten local school bosses make more than the officials running the whole state.
It is not just the schools either. Cross the street to Fairfax County’s general government, and the pay is even higher. Records show 42 county officials at the top of the chart earn six figures. Their combined payroll is north of $10.7 million. The average salary there is $256,943. This figure surpasses the average school salary and even federal Cabinet secretary compensation. A Chief Equity Officer named Nardos King makes $288,064. That is more than Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who each earn $253,100.
This is where the disconnect hits home for families. We trust our local leaders to be good stewards of our hard-earned tax dollars. We send our children to these schools to learn and grow. We expect our community leaders to live by the values of thrift and responsibility. But this payroll structure suggests a different set of priorities. The district is shrinking, yet the paychecks are growing. It is hard to explain how a declining district justifies an average salary of $239,693 for its top tier.
According to The Daily Signal, this payroll has expanded far beyond any semblance of fiscal restraint. Serving as an assistant superintendent in one Virginia county offers greater pay than leading the Virginia Department of Education. Jeffery Smith, the state’s Secretary of Education, makes $229,136. That is less than the local bosses who only oversee a small region. The system rewards the local layer over the state or federal layer. This is a clear signal about where the money goes.
We are the ones paying for this. The 71 Fairfax County roles involve a combined annual payroll slightly above $17 million. That is the cost of the people who decide how your child is taught and how your property is managed. The district does not have just one highly paid executive. It has a whole team of them. The records show a pattern that has been quietly bankrolled by taxpayers for years. The average salary of $239,693 per position is a heavy burden.
It is time to ask why we pay more to run a local school system than to run the country. The facts are clear and the gap is wide. We need to look at these numbers and decide if this is the right path for our community. The answer is not in the budget meetings, but in our own homes and hearts. Fairfax County pays its school leaders more than the President of the United States. That is the simple truth we must face today.
