The salaries of superintendents serving four comparably-sized school districts in Western Maine have risen in the past year or so to reflect the state average.

As of school year 2004-05, the state average for the 121 full-time school superintendents is $86,956, said Dale Douglass, executive director of the Maine School Management Association.

Statewide, according to the Maine Department of Education Web site, the range for superintendents’ salaries was $61,600 to $118,000 for school year 2003-04, the latest year for which numbers are available.

A lot depends on experience, too.

David Murphy, now in his third year as superintendent of SAD 44 centered in Bethel, makes the highest salary of the four districts, but also has 30 years in education, including 21 years within the district as an administrator. He earned $87,027 in school year 2003-04. His current contract extends through 2010.

Rick Colpitts just recently began work at SAD 39 in Buckfield and is in his first year as a superintendent. A spokesman for the district said his contract has been extended through 2007, but his salary is negotiated each year.

The SAD 21 board granted Superintendent Tom Ward a raise from the $80,000 he agreed to in school years 2003-04 and 2004-05, to $85,000 in 2005-06 and $90,000 in 2006-07.

For SAD 43 Superintendent Jim Hodgkin, the board granted a salary of $86,000 for school year 2005-06 and $90,000 for school year 2006-07.

Greg Scott, policy director at the education commissioner’s office, said salaries paid to Maine superintendents are on a par with the northern New England states of New Hampshire and Vermont, but below those of the richer, southern New England states of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

A shortage of administrators, particularly of superintendents, also serves to increase salaries, said Scott.

Many believe that the western and northern parts of the state must offer competitive salaries, particularly with the superintendent shortage.

“It’s a trend to raise salaries, with the supply and demand,” said Ward, who with many years of administrative experience is in his second year as superintendent of SAD 21.

Superintendents’ salaries

SAD 21: Tom Ward, 2004-05, 859 students (with Peru, 1,040), $80,000

SAD 39: Rick Colpitts, 2004-05, 625 students, $78,000

SAD 43: Jim Hodgkin, 2004-05, 1,617 students, $80,000

SAD 44: David Murphy, 2004-05, 1,100 students, $94,424