How do salaries of elementary and middle school principals compare with those of other administrators and classroom teachers? Are increases in salaries of principals keeping pace with increases in salaries of classroom teachers? How have principals' salaries fared over the years when the cost of living is taken into account? To provide answers to these questions, the author presents the data from the "National Survey of Salaries and Wages in Public Schools," conducted annually since 1973 by Educational Research Service (ERS). Each year, approximately 600 local school systems throughout the nation report salary and wage data to ERS for 33 professional and support positions. For the school year 2005-2006, 622 school systems reported data. These comprise a stratified sample of large, medium, small, and very small school systems selected by ERS to represent school systems of various sizes across the nation. This information provides a national database for school management and policy decisions concerning staff compensation. For individual elementary and middle school principals, these data show how compensation in one local school system compares with that of other systems and with the U.S. Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index. (Contains 6 tables and 1 chart.)