Of course, the primary focus of a superintendent’s job is student academic progress and achievement – no small responsibility, especially for the superintendent of a large urban-suburban-rural school district like Albuquerque Public Schools, which stretches across 1,200 square miles.

APS is the state’s largest school district and among the 35 largest in the nation, serving 81,000 students at 142 schools. The next largest school district in New Mexico has fewer than a third of the number of students in APS.

• APS is a majority-minority district:
  • 66% Hispanic
  • 21% White
  • 5% Native American
  • 3% Black
  • 2% Asian
• 68% of students qualify for free/reduced-price meals
• 17% are English learners
• 19% qualify for special education

Source: SAPR Hub APS Dashboard

With its $1.4 billion budget, APS has a large economic impact on the city of Albuquerque. The school district employs about 12,000 people, including 5,200 teachers.

To ensure that the district remains focused on its primary mission of student academic progress and achievement, Albuquerque Public Schools has an Academic Master Plan outlining five goals and priorities for student success (nicknamed the Supt’s Big 5):

• Early Learning
• College & Career Readiness
• Attendance
• The Whole Child
• Parent and Community Engagement

APS has had 28 superintendents (a few served as interim superintendents) in its 129-year history. Except for John Milne, who served as superintendent for 45 years beginning in 1911, the average tenure of an APS superintendent is just under three years.

Previous Superintendents

1. Charles Elkanah Hodgin: 1891–1897
2. J. T. Perigo: 1897–1898
3. Mayo E. Hickey: 1898–1902
4. A.B. Stroup: 1902–1905
5. James Elton Clark: 1905–1906
6. W.D. Sterling: 1907–1911
7. John Milne: 1911–1956
8. Charles Spain: 1956–1965
9. Noah C. Turpen: 1965–1966
10. Robert L. Chisholm: 1966–1969
11. Tom Wiley: 1969–1971
12. Ernest Stapleton: 1971–1977
13. Francisco D. Sanchez: 1977–1978
14. Joseph P. Robitaille: 1978–1980
15. Francisco D. Sanchez: 1980–1985
16. Lillian C. Barna: 1985–1988
17. Jack Bobroff: 1988–1994
18. Dr. Peter P. Horoschak: 1994–1998
19. George Bello: 1998
20. Dr. H. Bradford Allison: 1998–2002
21. Joe Vigil, Beth Everitt, Tom Garrity, Michael Vigil: 2002–2003
22. Joe Vigil: April–July 2003
23. M. Elizabeth Everitt: 2003–2007
24. Linda Sink, Interim Superintendent: January–July 2008
25. Winston Brooks: 2008–2014
26. Dr. Brad Winter, Interim Superintendent: 2014–2015
27. Dr. Luis Valentino: June–August 2015
28. Raquel Reedy: 2015-present (retiring June 30, 2020)

Large Urban School Districts

A few years ago, the Council of the Great City Schools, an organization of the nation’s 76 largest urban school systems, compared superintendent salaries. It found that the average annual salary for superintendents of large public school districts was $277,765, in line with the APS superintendent, who made $266,316 at the time. 

According to the Council, the average annual salary for superintendents with five years or more experience now is expected to be around $345,000. For example, the salary for the superintendent of Baltimore City Public Schools, with a student population of 84,700, was recently raised to $325,000 a year.

APS Superintendent Raquel Reedy, who is in her fifth year on the job, makes $276,186 a year. APS now has about 81,000 students.

HR Comparison

Last year, the APS Human Resources Department did its own salary comparison, looking at superintendent salaries for a dozen school districts in the state and region with student populations ranging from 12,500 to 92,800. The average annual salary for these superintendents was $255,879.

Superintendents in three of the four largest school districts (Fort Worth, Austin and Fulton County, Georgia) made over $300,000 a year.

In New Mexico, the superintendent of the second-largest school district — Las Cruces with 24,300 students (less than a third of the APS population) — made $180,000 a year.

The superintendent of the third-largest school district in New Mexico — Rio Rancho with 16,762 students (about a fifth the size of APS) — made $225,000 a year.

The superintendent of the state’s fourth-largest school district — Santa Fe with 12,500 students (less than a sixth the size of APS) — made $184,500 a year.

Additional Comparisons