Skip to content

The $100K club is growing in New Westminster schools

The 86 people earning more than $100,000 in 2021/22 include teachers, vice-principals, principals and senior district staff.
education_schools
What does the public education system cost taxpayers? The New Westminster school district spent $61.3 million on staff pay in the year ending June 30, 2022, the latest SOFI report shows.

Eighty-six employees of the New Westminster school district earned more than $100,000 last school year — a significant jump over the year before.

School District 40 has released its annual statement of financial information (SOFI), which lists all employees of the district earning more than $75,000 per year for the year ending June 30, 2022. School districts are required to publish the list annually.

On that list this year is the largest number yet of employees earning more than $100,000: 45 teachers, 30 administrative officers (principals and vice-principals, both school-based and district-wide) and 11 senior district staff (managers and directors).

That’s up from a total of 56 people last year, when 18 teachers, 29 administrative officers and nine senior staff earned more than $100,000.

The number of employees earning more than $150,000 also increased this year, from four to six.

The top-paid staffer in the district remains superintendent Karim Hachlaf, at $212,242 (up slightly from the previous year’s $211,020). Also passing the $150,000 mark are associate superintendent Maryam Naser ($176,509), secretary-treasurer Bettina Ketcham ($169,526), executive director of human resources Robert Weston ($164,653), and the district’s two directors of instruction, Maureen McRae-Stanger ($156,275) and Bruce Cunnings ($156,381).

In total, the school district paid out $61.3 million in remuneration and $147,208.98 in expenses for the year.

That includes $34.2 million in remuneration and $59,695 in expenses for employees earning more than $75,000 a year. That’s up from $31.6 million in remuneration, but down from $78,841 in expenses, the year before.

It also includes $26.9 million in remuneration and $79,277 in expenses for employees earning $75,000 or less. That’s a slight increase in remuneration, from $26.7 million the previous year, and slightly down on the expenses front, from $75,938.

What do New Westminster school trustees get paid?

SD40 also paid out a total of $185,786 in remuneration and $8,235 in expenses for the seven members of school board.

Trustees earned $25,770.96 apiece, with slightly higher amounts for chairperson Gurveen Dhaliwal ($29,364) and vice-chair Dee Beattie ($27,567.96).

You can find the complete School District 40 Statement of Financial Information online.

Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, jmaclellan@newwestrecord.ca