I'll base this on NJ, but your reference to the salaries is largely to do with unions. Union reps negotiate the salary guides with administrators and since most

I'll base this on NJ, but your reference to the salaries is largely to do with unions. Union reps negotiate the salary guides with administrators and since most reps/heads are senior staff members they negotiate the guide to favor themselves. This may not be the case everywhere but if you look them up (public record FYI) you will often see later years see significant bumps in salary while lower level years are small COL increases. The main ways they're usually negotiated are: 1. high starting salary, but more steps to the top or 2. low starting salary, with less steps.