Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Jamie Polk will receive a multi-year contract extension and a $25,000 salary increase, but a district school board member suggested she deserved more.
The Oklahoma City Board of Education voted unanimously Monday evening to approve Polk’s new contract, which would keep her in charge of the district through the 2028-29 school year. Her yearly base salary will increase to $275,000, but further contract details weren’t immediately made available after the board meeting.
The board’s vote follows weeks of growing complaints that Polk hadn’t yet received a new contract with a pay raise. Tulsa Public Schools, the state’s largest district, four days ago boosted the base salary of its superintendent, Ebony Johnson, to $290,000 and extended her contract by three years.
The Oklahoma City district, the state’s second-largest by only a few thousand students, “could have done better tonight,” board member Mike Shelton said before voting in favor of Polk’s extension.
“Oklahoma City Public Schools can do better at making sure that we not only pay fairly, pay our superintendent for the work that’s done but also all our employees,” Shelton said during the meeting. “We could have done better at making sure that we secured our superintendent at better equal pay.”
Polk, a first-time superintendent, was hired in May 2024 at a $250,000 base salary and $343,198 in total compensation. Her contract at the time was set to end June 30, 2027. It included insurance benefits, a vehicle, a $10,000 technology and vehicle stipend, and the possibility of an annual performance bonus worth up to 10% of her salary.
Polk was the seventh-highest paid superintendent in the state last school year, according to Oklahoma State Department of Education records. Yukon Public Schools Superintendent Jason Simeroth, now retired, was the highest paid with $437,217 in total compensation, followed by Norman Public Schools Superintendent Nick Migliorino at $412,016.
Dozens attended the Oklahoma City school board’s Nov. 10 meeting as the Rev. Derrick A. Scobey spoke in public comment to question why negotiations for Polk’s new contract had “stalled.”
Scobey, a prominent community leader and the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, pointed to an open superintendent position in Des Moines Public Schools in Polk’s home state of Iowa. Des Moines’ superintendent, Ian Roberts, resigned in September after Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him.
“We’re in danger of losing our superintendent for her to go home because she has no contract in place,” Scobey said during the Nov. 10 meeting.
Polk declined to speak with news reporters after the board approved her new contract, but in a statement through her communications staff, she said she is “fully committed to the work ahead” in Oklahoma City schools.
“I am honored to continue serving as superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools,” Polk said in her statement. “This contract extension reflects our collective belief that stability, clarity and collaboration are essential to sustaining the progress our students deserve.”
The $25,000 salary increase will apply to the current fiscal year, and the contract extension through June 30, 2029, is the “maximum term allowed by law,” board Chairperson Paula Lewis said in a statement.
“We are pleased to have concluded these negotiations,” Lewis stated. “The board remains fully supportive of Dr. Polk and is deeply grateful for her steadfast leadership and service to our students, staff and community.”
Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence.
