The largest source of superintendents’ stress—and the tasks that take up most of their time—largely depends on the size of the district they’re running, according to the results of a new survey.
The leaders of smaller districts (those with an enrollment of fewer than 3,000 students) cited budget constraints as their top stressor, while the leaders of larger districts (those with 10,000 or more students) said the intrusion of political issues and opinions into schooling was the most common stressor, according to the survey, conducted between March 6 and May 3 by the RAND Corporation and the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Superintendents of 190 districts responded to the survey and their responses were weighted to be representative of the mix of school districts across the country, according to the report.
Not only were district budgets a top stressor, but superintendents—especially those in small districts—identified budget management as among their most time-consuming activities. Superintendents of small districts also said school operations, gathering and analyzing student and school data, and facility maintenance took up much of their time.
Conversely, superintendents of large districts said internal and external communications took up the largest chunk of their time. Sixty-four percent of superintendents of large districts reported that communicating with school board members ranked among their top three most time-consuming activities, compared with 28 percent of small-district superintendents. Fifty-three percent of large-district superintendents also said school board relations are a source of stress in their work, compared with just 20 percent of small-district superintendents.
The results—and the sharp divide based on districts’ size—suggest that “the very job of the superintendent and, therefore, likely the skills needed most to succeed in the job” differ markedly, and training programs may need to adjust to better prepare future leaders for this reality, according to the report. For example, preparation programs for smaller districts’ leaders may need a more “jack of all trades” approach that includes better preparation for the facility maintenance and finance aspects of the job, the report says.
“It’s like a tale of two cities,” said Heather Schwartz, one of the authors of the RAND report. “It’s like the large districts are just a different beast than the small districts.”
Politics are less of a stressor than last year, but still a concern
Superintendents across the board reported being less affected by political issues in their day-to-day work, despite the intrusion of politics still ranking among the top issues for large-district superintendents.
In 2023, nearly 9 in 10 district leaders (88 percent) reported politics as a source of stress. In 2024, that figure dropped to 60 percent, and it is no longer district leaders’ top source of stress (that title goes to district budgets).
In 2023, 98 percent of large-district leaders said politics were a source of stress, compared with 76 percent in 2024.
The majority of superintendents either “somewhat” or “strongly” agreed that the stress involved with being a district leader is worth it—the same percentage as in 2023. That is comparable to the percentage of all working adults who feel the stress of their jobs was worth it, according to the report.
This year, as in 2023, superintendents of larger districts were more likely (74 percent) to feel the job is worth the stress and disappointment. That’s compared with about 60 percent of smaller-district superintendents.
While the survey didn’t ask for more detail on superintendents’ responses, the researchers hypothesized that leaders of larger districts may report higher satisfaction because they generally lead the largest districts and receive higher pay. They also tend to have more staff to support their work.
“It’s interesting to me that smaller-district superintendents were less satisfied, because they’re generally not the ones being pulled into the big political battles, but it could be an indication that the jack-of-all-trades nature of their jobs is more taxing than we recognize,” Schwartz said.
Other common sources of stress among district leaders, regardless of district size, were students’ mental health, the quality of academic instruction, and school safety.
