Who Earns What in Montgomery County Public Schools

On average, high school principals make about $36,000 more than elementary school principals

To find the salaries of principals at MCPS schools, click here.

Montgomery public schools central office staff are generally the highest paid employees in the school system and principals make more money on average than their colleagues across the state.

Principal salaries are based on a pay scale developed through negotiations between school system officials and an employee union. Principals with more experience occupy a higher rung on the ladder.

Principals also draw higher wages for securing advanced degrees or by leading high schools, larger schools or high-poverty schools.

Elementary principals, on average, earn $133,084 per year, while middle school principals make an average annual salary of $151,424 and high school principals make $169,359.

Principals in Baltimore and Howard counties earn more money, on average, but Montgomery principals earn more than principals in the state’s other 21 public school systems.

While county principals are among the highest paid in the state, the 20 highest paid Montgomery County Public Schools employees are in the school system’s Rockville-based central office, employed largely as associate superintendents, legal counsel and department directors.

The system’s highest paid employee is Superintendent Jack Smith, who in his third year at the helm of the state’s largest school system, makes $290,000, nearly four times the average teacher salary, at about $74,000.

The minimum salary for Montgomery teachers for the 2017-2018 school year was $49,013, the highest in Maryland, according to state Department of Education data.

Smith is the fourth-highest paid superintendent in the state, behind Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Prince George’s County’s leaders, according to state data.

The 161,546-student Montgomery public school system employs about 23,300 people.

The following information is from fiscal 2019, which began July 1, 2018. Since that time, some schools’ principals may have changed.