A superintendent's time horizon is longest of all: budgeting, capital projects, strategic initiatives and changing state requirements—and this is the time to prioritize those issues.

.Four years after COVID-19 first hit American schools, we are—thankfully—well past the depths of the crisis. But for education, true recovery from the pandemic has been slow to come.

That's according to The School Superintendents Association's annual salary and benefits study, which suggests that the median salary in 2023 was $7,000 less than it was in 2013.

Schools since the pandemic have invested money in teachers’ salaries, hiring more staff, adding math and reading specialists, updating HVAC systems and increasing mental health resources.