Despite a $27 million settlement with taxpayers in 2022, Lower Merion School District continues to pay top-tier salaries to administrators.
Assistant high school principals in the affluent Philadelphia suburb earn nearly $170,000 a year, while the superintendent makes nearly $300,000, according to an investigation by The Center Square. These high salaries endured because of a strong property tax base and the absence of a sustained taxpayer backlash.
A revolt began in 2016 over a proposal by school district officials to raise property taxes amid accusations that officials hid budget surpluses. It culminated in June 2022 with a class-action settlement that returned $27 million to taxpayers. While school district officials denied wrongdoing, the settlement provided $15 million to taxpayers who lived in Lower Merion as of August 2016, along with $4 million installments paid in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
In April 2025, the district hired a new superintendent, Dr. Frank Ranelli, giving him a five-year contract valued at $1.5 million. His starting annual salary was $290,000. After inflation, that was lower than the $240,000 given to superintendent Robert Copeland in 2015.
