In this age retiring baby boomers, school boards are under increasing pressure to compensate existing superintendent and find new ones in a very time consuming process. Of course, if the Board goes to far and overcompensates, they have to reverse course and reduce the compensation package.

Of course, state law requires that the Board approve any increase in salary but sometimes they forget.

Here is a review of eight Alameda County superintendent's contracts performed in 2013.

In 2008, large school dictricts face even more pressure as the pool of qualified applicants is small and therefore leads to large pay increases.

Schools chiefs not hurting

A statewide trend? Not exactly. It's more of an Alameda-Contra Costa spike. See table below.

Between 1998 and 2003, superintendent salaries rose 27 percent across California. Alameda and Contra Costa supes drew an average 35 percent raise. During the same period, teachers' salaries rose an average of 19 percent around the state.

Escalating salaries for top administrators are a bitter pill to swallow for teachers whose salary hikes lagged by nearly half the rate. Teachers may work 30 to 40 days less per year than superintendents, but comparisons are hard to ignore when Martinez gave its superintendent a 43 percent rate hike between 1998 and 2003, while teachers' salaries there rose 12 percent.

Comparing salary data between school districts, or even within the same district over time, can be like juggling apples and oranges. Hefty perks -- housing and car allowances, tax-free annuities, and expense accounts -- are included in a base salary one year, eliminated or tacked on separately the next.

Byron's superintendent had a $4,800 car allowance in 1998 and none in 2003-04. Castro Valley's chief receives $500 per month for his car, plus 80 percent of his automobile insurance payments.

But even without the perks, local superintendents are pulling in significantly more than the national average, some as much as $50,000 more.

One of the few exceptions is Mt. Diablo Unified's Gary McHenry, who caught a lot of heat last fall over an 8 percent longevity raise. Even with the increase to $168,000, McHenry is still $7,000 below the national average for similar-size districts. His pay, however, is higher than the $154,000 average for full-time superintendents in Contra Costa County districts of any size.

The thought worries board president April Treece, who says McHenry has received numerous offers from other districts.

The same concern prompted the Moraga school board's controversial decision last month to offer its superintendent a $40,000 raise over the next two years, when suitors came wooing.

There seems little doubt that superintendent turnover is responsible for the bulk of these soaring salaries.

"Searches in California usually end with a raise in salary for the incoming superintendent," said Dick Loveall, director of the California School Boards Association's executive search services.

Antioch interim chief financial officer Sheri Gamba agrees. Antioch has gone through two superintendents and one interim superintendent since 1997-98, when the job paid $96,106. Last year, the same job paid $149,161, a 55 percent increase.

Superintendents, like CEOs of corporations, are free agents. They negotiate their own salaries and move about the country at will. That mobility is the problem, says Loveall.

In contrast, teachers rarely carry their tenure from one job to another, and often can't get one state to recognize another's credential.

The East Bay's superintendent salaries are rising faster because of the region's high cost of living, high expectations and a shrinking applicant pool, said Loveall, and there's no relief in sight.

"Within the next five years, 40 percent of all sitting superintendents will be retiring. (But) in areas like the Bay Area, the cost of living is so outlandish, you can't pay for the talent you need," he said.

Loveall says he gets calls almost daily from out-of-state candidates smitten with California's climate and lifestyle. He tells them to check out the real estate prices before they go any further.

"They call back and say, 'You've got to be kidding,'" he said. "Those are the market forces."

Bruce Hunter, chief lobbyist for the American Association of School Administrators, likes to compare superintendent salaries to those of vastly better paid corporate CEOs. He sees superintendent raises as "a product of willingness of the school board to pay a salary for leadership."

Loveall agrees. His firm recently helped Lafayette find a new superintendent to replace the retiring Jon Frank.

"Lafayette has very high expectations they have to satisfy. You can't do it on the cheap," he said.

The second-ranked high school district in the state, Acalanes is deep into its second-round superintendent search after a spring effort to replace Randall Olson, who is retiring, proved fruitless. They had plenty of candidates, said trustee Margot Tobias, but no one was a perfect fit.

"We're just very picky. Our parents are picky. Our kids are terrific, so we're picky," she said. "And Dr. Olson is a hard person to replace."

Acalanes teachers union president Lori Tewksbury calls it a double-edged sword: How do you balance the financial health of teachers, who have not received a raise in two years, with the pressures of the superintendent market?

"It's a tricky question. How can anyone justify paying more than what Randy is making, when we would have had massive layoffs last year if it wasn't for the $1 million (donations) from parents and foundations?" she said.

Hanging over everything is the specter of Washington, D.C.'s recent bid to pay its schools superintendent $600,000 a year, and Miami-Dade's $350,000 salary offer to an applicant.

Tobias shudders at the very thought.

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