WEST ORANGE, NJ — The New Jersey Department of Education on Nov. 16 released proposed revisions to a portion of the state’s Accountability Regulations, including changes to the superintendent salary cap provisions. The proposal would adjust salary maximums and make other changes to the cap process.
Going into effect in 2011, the cap provisions set salary maximums for superintendents based on district enrollment and allow districts to set performance goals for their superintendent, which, if reached, result in bonus compensation. The regulations also provide stipends to districts that include high schools or share their chief school administrator with another district.
The New Jersey School Board Association Task Force studied the Accountability Regulations for approximately one year and made several recommendations to the state Board of Education and acting commissioner of education; among the recommendations, the NJSBA asked that the superintendent salary cap be eliminated.
While the NJDOE is proposing to increase the salary cap and consolidate categories, it will retain the cap, against the NJSBA’s recommendation.
“The department proposes to increase the caps commensurate with inflation and create renewal incentives in recognition that school districts should have more flexibility to recruit and retain educational leaders who meet the needs of the school district,” the Department of Education said in a release, acknowledging that these changes are being suggested in order to give school boards more flexibility. “The proposed amendments also seek to address the instability that may accompany increased rates of superintendent turnover and an over-reliance on interim superintendents to fill vacant superintendent positions.”
But the NJSBA is not satisfied.
“While we appreciate movement on this issue, we are disappointed that the salary cap concept would remain in effect,” NJSBA Executive Director Lawrence S. Feinsod said in a statement. “NJSBA maintains that the superintendent salary cap is an unnecessary cap within a cap. The compensation package for the district’s chief education officer should be the purview of the local school board, which is responsible for the local governance of public education.”
Local school boards want more to be done as well.
“The intent of the legislation was to save taxpayers money. However, the reality of the impact of this legislation was that many seasoned and experienced superintendents chose to retire, collect their pensions and relocated and continued to work in New York, Connecticut or Pennsylvania rather than take a significant salary cut in New Jersey,” West Orange Board of Education President Laura Lab told the West Orange Chronicle. “Those that retired and chose to stay in New Jersey basically developed not only a greater and significant drain on the underfunded pension system but also created a pool of transient interim superintendents who are not only collecting pensions but are now also being paid per diem up to $600 daily for two years.
“I feel this was extremely short-sighted on the governor’s part, particularly because school districts are required to stay within a 2-percent (tax) increase so in essence this created an arbitrary cap within a cap,” Lab continued. “This ceiling only applies to superintendents and therefore, in districts such as West Orange where we have longtime administrators, it is not unusual where subordinates are making a larger salary than the chief school administrator.”
The existing regulations cap salaries at maximum amounts based on six enrollment categories. The Nov. 16 proposal would consolidate the enrollment categories into three groups, with increased salary maximums. It would also allow districts to increase the salaries of superintendents who are at maximum and who accept new contracts by 2 percent for each year of the new agreement. The existing cap mandates a maximum yearly salary of $125,000 for districts with 250 students or fewer; $135,000 for 251 to 750 students; $145,000 for 751 to 1,500 students; $155,000 for 1,501 to 3,000 students; $165,000 for 3,001 to 6,500 students; and $175,000 for 6,501 or more students.
The revised mandates would cap the superintendent’s maximum yearly salary at $147,794 for districts with 749 students or fewer; $169,689 for 750 to 2,999 students; and $191,584 for 3,000 or more students.
Both the existing and proposed cap regulations allow districts with 10,000 or more students to apply to have the education commission grant a waiver of the maximum salary amount; the proposed revisions would limit eligible districts to submitting only one waiver request during the term of a contract.
As with the existing cap regulation, the proposal still allows for merit bonuses, high school stipends and stipends for districts sharing a superintendent.
“I find the adjustments to the cap to be frustratingly illogical,” Lab said. “Under the proposed CSA cap, superintendents who have 750 students would make the same as a superintendent with 2,999 students, nearly four times the capacity. Conversely a superintendent with 3,000 students would make the same as a superintendent with 9,999 students; it’s arbitrary and illogical, because the workload between the different sized districts is enormous. This puts the larger districts at a clear disadvantage trying to compete for talent with smaller districts with significantly less of a workload but the same pay scale.
“The lack of consistency in the regulations is frustrating and again arbitrary,” Lab continued. “For example, superintendents of vo-tech districts are exempt from these regulations. In addition the inconsistency of leadership in many school districts due to unprecedented turnover has now created a transient pool of superintendents that can only have negative effects in maintaining continuity within a district. Another negative of this is that the impact upon the overburdened and underfunded pension system is a direct victim of the outcome of the cap.”
The Accountability Regulations were originally scheduled to sunset on Nov. 25. However, because the proposed revisions were filed Nov. 16, the current regulations will remain in effect for an additional 180 days; they will now sunset on May 24, 2017.
The Department of Education has scheduled three public hearings on the proposed regulations: Monday, Jan. 9, 2017, from noon to 2 p.m. at the New Jersey Department of Education, 100 River View Executive Plaza, Trenton; Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Camden County College, 200 College Drive, Blackwood; and Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Morris County Police and Fire Academy Auditorium, 500 W. Hanover Ave. in Morristown.
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