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Sandra Herbst, who oversees the River East Transcona School Division, and the Louis Riel School Division\u2019s Christian Michalik each earned $291,203.<\/p>\n
The latter\u2019s board of trustees was the highest paid of all the nine-seat governance boards in Winnipeg. Overall, Louis Riel trustees received $258,817 \u2014 $50,000 more than the lowest-paid group based in St. James-Assiniboia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you consider the vast array of needs that the public education is meeting in 2026 for Manitoba communities, both urban and rural, the days of only reading, writing and arithmetic are so far away,\u201d said Alan Campbell, director of advocacy and public affairs for the Manitoba School Boards Association.<\/p>\n
Campbell said boards come up with salaries based on leadership responsibilities, workforce size, student population, geography, building roster and pay in comparable public- and private-sector roles.<\/p>\n
Board offices run daily operations for multiple schools, in addition to organizing nutrition, health and well-being programs and social services, the veteran trustee noted.<\/p>\n
Manitoba school divisions are required to publish earnings and job titles of staff who make $85,000 or more within six months of the end of every calendar year.<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg School Division had not uploaded its report as of Thursday afternoon, but it was made available to the Free Press upon request.<\/p>\n
WSD, the largest division, with the full-time equivalent of 27,795 students and 4,841 employees, has the longest list \u2014 a 49-page document \u2014 of earners who met that threshold in 2025.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Seven members of its workforce, in addition to Henderson, earned upwards of $200,000 last year.<\/p>\n The highest-paid employees include chief financial officer Clayton Bodkyn, division kookum Marsha Missyabit and assistant superintendents Rob Riel, Lorelei Bunkowsky, Mohammad Rezai, Julie Smerchanski and Shelley Warkentin.<\/p>\n The divisional kookum, a position that is in the company with traditional assistant superintendent roles whose portfolios include professional learning, student-centred services and Indigenous education, \u201chas the responsibility to guide, support and model the good life.\u201d<\/p>\n In River East Transcona, the salaries of secretary treasurer Elise Downey and assistant superintendents Jason Drysdale and Karen Boyd surpassed $200,000.<\/p>\n The managers in charge of budgeting in Seven Oaks and Louis Riel, Jennifer West and Jamie Rudnicki, were in that category.<\/p>\n Pembina Trails and St. James-Assiniboia\u2019s top leaders, Shelley Amos and Jenness Moffatt were solo in their divisions, with respective salaries of $220,221 and $209,549.<\/p>\n Superintendent earnings were in the same range as the city\u2019s director of water and waste, transit director and chief of the fire and paramedic service last year.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Henderson, Herbst, Michalik and Seven Oaks superintendent Tony Kreml all out-earned Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham, who took home $231,969 in 2025.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Ruth Bonneville \/ Free Press Files<\/p>\n Matt Henderson, superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division, was the city\u2019s highest-paid school administrator in 2025 earning $292,473.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important that that salary range is competitive with those with comparable responsibility in other areas of the public sector and the private sector,\u201d said Campbell, of the school boards association.<\/p>\n (He recently left a six-figure role in Pembina Trails; last year Campbell earned $145,490 as its director of transportation.)<\/p>\n Education Minister Tracy Schmidt took home $153,127 during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. The province releases public compensation data six months after the fiscal year ends.<\/p>\n maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Maggie Macintosh Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie<\/a>.<\/p>\n Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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Education reporter
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