Report: Unelected officials take top salaries

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(The Center Square) – Some of the highest-paid state executives across the country in 2025 were unelected education officials, according to a new report.

Ballotpedia curated a report detailing the salaries of top-ranking state officials across the country in 2025. The list found that nine of the top 10 highest paid officials were appointed to their positions.

The highest paid state official in 2025 was New York Commissioner of Education Betty Rosa, whose salary was $489,000. The next closest was Maryland Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright, with a salary of $361,000.

Georgia Treasurer Steve McCoy earned $329,000 in 2025, the highest salary of any elected official included in the report. He was the only elected official in the top 10 for highest-paid state executives.

Jackie Beran, a staff writer at Ballotpedia, told The Center Square that voters deserve to know how much state officials are getting paid. She highlighted the difference in pay between elected and appointed officials.

“Should we be putting these people in the office that are increasing pays by vast sums when the pay scales for other offices that aren't government-related, they're not getting these huge raises,” Beran said.

Colorado Commissioner of Education Susanna Cordova ranked fourth with a salary of $334,099. Illinois Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders ranked eighth on the list with a salary of $323,420.

“It makes sense because a lot of these states have huge education systems, but I didn’t think they would be the highest salary in the state that we would look at,” Beran told The Center Square.

In fact, officials on the 15-member Utah State Board of Education were the second lowest paid in the country with a salary of $10,529. The lowest paid state executive official is Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick with a salary of $7,113.

Eight of the 10 lowest paid officials across the country were elected to their positions. Members of the Delaware Public Service Commission, who make $35,000 per year and members of the Tennessee Public Utility Commission, who make $37,600 per year are the only elected positions at the bottom of the list.

Beran said it was occasionally difficult to track down pay for state officials. She said Ballotpedia compiled financial information from states through financial reports, statutes, salary databases and external website calculations.

“A lot of the state statutes will list elected office holders like salary, but they don't really get into what an appointed office holder gets paid,” Beran said.

The highest paid governor in the country was New York Gov. Kathy Hochul with a salary of $250,000. The lowest paid governor in the country was Maine Gov. Janet Mills at $70,000.

However, Maine passed legislation in 2024 that will increase the governor’s pay to $125,000 starting in January 2027. After the legislation is implemented, Arizona’s governor will have the lowest salary at $95,000.

Ballotpedia marked Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont with zero dollar salaries because both men chose to forgo their salaries in public office.

“They're not even listed in the payroll database through the state,” Beran told The Center Square.

In 2025, the Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s office saw the largest pay increase in the country. Her pay increased by 53.43% from 2024 for a salary of $169,862.

However, Kansas Lt. Gov. David Toland had a salary of $244,957, significantly higher than his counterpart. Across the board, governors in 16 states saw an increase in their salaries during 2025.

On the other hand, seven governors across the country saw a decrease in their salaries. Beran said salary determinations in different states vary dramatically from case to case.

“A lot of the states, of course, it's by the constitution or statute or some states have these like independent commissions where they meet every couple years and they decide what the salary is going to be and it's based on a different criteria,” Beran said.

Kansas accounted for three of the highest increases in state officials salaries in 2025. The Kansas Secretary of State took a 81% salary increase and the attorney general’s pay increased by 67%. Beran said the pay increases were due to legislation to increase resources throughout the state that went into effect for 2025.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill took the largest pay cut, at 17.7%. She earned a salary of $127,000 in 2025.

With the midterm elections looming, Ballotpedia’s resource is for taxpayers to determine how money is being used to support executive officials across the country.

“It is an important thing for someone to like when they go to the voter box,” Beran said. “If I was a constituent in one of these states, I would feel like if I saw that someone was getting paid a high amount, I would want it to be justified. You want to know this person is doing their job.”