Charles Preston Cary (January 28, 1856 – 1943) was an American educator. Cary had German and English ancestry. Born in Marshall, Ohio, he went to Ohio Central Normal School and worked in education in Ohio, Kansas, and Nebraska. In 1893, he moved to Wisconsin and was the head of the Milwaukee State Normal School training department (now University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee). He received his bachelor's degree from University of Chicago. He served as Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1903 to 1921. Cary was a Republican.