Teachers aren't the only ones who think they are underpaid.

'The school district has gotten cheap labor for a long time in this position,' said Orange School Superintendent Ron Blocker, who thinks he is being shortchanged, too.

Blocker pulls down $298,756 a year, when his salary and extras including an annuity and expense account are tallied. That's more than six times what the average teacher makes.

Gov. Charlie Crist earns only $132,932 a year under a state pay scale that provides considerably stingier benefits than local school boards heap on superintendents.

School superintendents across the region get a good dollar, compared with earnings for the average Joe -- or even the average Joe college graduate with an advanced degree similar to one a superintendent might have.

U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2007 indicate that just under 8 percent of Florida workers earned more than $100,000 a year.

The average wage earner with an advanced degree made $56,542. The average salary for a teacher in Central Florida is between $42,000 and $49,000.

But the school superintendents, who make four or five times as much, say they are worth every penny.

'I am responsible for the education of more than 64,000 students, and I take it very seriously,' said Bill Vogel, superintendent of Seminole County schools, who tops Blocker's take by snagging $310,981 from taxpayers annually.

Vogel got a pay increase this summer, even though School Board Chairman Diane Bauer said the district 'didn't have a penny' to give raises to teachers and other employees.

The School Board is chopping nearly $30 million from school district programs this year because of cutbacks in state funding and rising costs for necessities such as electric and diesel fuel.

But Vogel's contract required a nearly 4 percent cost-of-living increase. The superintendent says he will donate net earnings from the extra $7,058 to the school system's charitable foundation this year, although it will figure in his base pay in subsequent years.

Vogel, Blocker and the other superintendents have a number of cash benefits in addition to their salaries that boost their incomes. The perks are written into their contracts.

Blocker got a $19,256 bonus from the School Board this past school year after the School Board said he was doing a good job.

Vogel 'retired' from the school system two years ago and draws a $5,940 monthly state retirement check in addition to his pay and other cash benefits. He returned to work a month after retiring, as allowed by state law.

Peg Smith, superintendent of Volusia schools, gets $652 a month to lease a big Buick. She also gets cash tucked away in an annuity -- $26,275 this past year.

'Reasonable compensation'

'It has to be reasonable compensation for all of the years of experience and training,' said Smith, who is in line to earn as much as $240,908 this year.

Smith points out that she plans to take a 2 percent cut in base pay this year -- about $3,500 -- because the district is in desperate financial straits. She says she also might give up a $14,431bonus she earned based on student FCAT scores, dropout rates and graduation rates.

Still, Smith and most of the other superintendents are paid considerably more than the state's suggested salaries for school-district heads.