Prep School Payday

Ellen Gamerman:

Since its founding in 1970, Forsyth Country Day School in Lewisville, N.C., has built an idyllic campus and become known for sending graduates on to the Ivy League. Forsyth stands out another way, too: Its headmaster, Henry M. Battle Jr., received more than $300,000 in salary and bonuses in 2004-05, according to the school's most recently available tax filings. That's nearly double the national median salary for private-school chiefs -- and above the pay at names like New York's Dalton and Connecticut's Choate Rosemary Hall.

Across the country, the job description for private-school headmasters is changing -- and that is rapidly lifting their pay. With competition fierce for candidates who combine CEO-level business acumen and academic credentials, total compensation packages worth $400,000 or more are increasingly common. In some cases, candidates are getting new perks, from college-style sabbaticals to travel stipends.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 21, 2007 6:39 AM
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