Teachers Make Over $100K On Average In This Bergen Co. District

DEMAREST, NJ — New state salary figures show the disparity between teachers salary from district to district in Bergen County.

After delays caused by the COVID crisis, the state released information to Patch this week that shows how much your school district, special services district, vocational district and charter school have been paying teachers this past year. Read more: NJ School Districts That Paid Teachers The Most, Least In 2020

What it revealed may surprise you.

In some districts in Bergen County, specifically Northern Valley Regional, which boasts the highest median salary in the state at $113, 869, making upwards of $90,000 isn’t unreasonable.

The district oversees two high schools, Northern Valley at Demarest and Northern Valley at Old Tappan, as well as a PreK-21 Special Education Program that serves over 45 northern New Jersey school districts.

Students from Closter, Demarest, Harrington Park, Haworth, Northvale, Norwood, and Old Tappan make up the majority of students at the high school.

Other districts have a median salary closer to $60,000, including Paramus and Saddle Brook. Elmwood Park features the lowest median salary for teachers in Bergen County at $52,249.

This information comes from the New Jersey Department of Education’s Taxpayer's Guide to Education Spending, which reports the median salary in every New Jersey school district and charter school.

A recent Patch report also determined the difference in salaries between 2019 and 2020. Northern Valley Regional teachers saw a 5.64 percent increase in salary, according to the report.

"For decades, the Department of Education's annual guide has provided members of the public with insight and information about the expenditures of their public school district," said Angelica Allen-McMillan, acting commissioner of the state Department of Education. "This kind of transparent, unfiltered information can be the first step toward helping residents better understand the needs and priorities of their local schools."

Overall, 231 school districts make more than the state median of $70,815, a 2 percent increase over the previous year. This comes despite many districts despite suffering losses in state aid and the rising costs of getting kids back to school amid the COVID crisis. Read more: Gov. Murphy Releases New NJ State Aid Figures For Schools

Keep up to date with what's happening in your community by subscribing to your local Patch newsletter here.