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Njspotlight.com 7-15-10 ‘Questions Come in Bunches on First Day of Cap’ - Reporting from concerns expressed at the GSCS Board of Trusgess Meeting this Wednesay: "Convert to charter? Send students to Utah? Write to the Governor? School leaders across NJ contemplate new educational environment"
7-16-10 Phila Inquirer ‘Christie targets salaries of school superintendents’
7-16-10 Njspotlight.com ‘Another Cap from Christie, This Time for School Superintendents’
7-16-10 Star Ledger ‘Gov. Christie reveals plans to limit N.J. superintendents' salaries, base pay on merit pay’
7-16-10 Asbury Park Press/Gannett ‘Christie seeks cap on school leaders' salaries’
7-15-10 ‘Questions Come in Bunches on First Day of Cap’
Convert to charter? Send students to Utah? Write to the Governor? School leaders across NJ contemplate new educational environment
By John Mooney, July 15 in Education
Day one of Cap 2.0 and more than a dozen suburban school leaders from across New Jersey gathered in an East Brunswick conference to, well, lament.
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What happens to the labor contracts already signed and sealed with salary increases of 3 or 4 percent, well above the new cap?
What about those notorious special education costs that now remain under the cap, and a system that one superintendent said makes it more cost-effective to send a student to Utah than to her county special services school?
And in districts that largely have eschewed charter schools, a proposition unheard until now was raised: Would it be cheaper for their schools to convert to charter schools?
It was more questions than answers at the monthly meeting of the trustees of the Garden State Coalition of Schools, the state’s predominant suburban school organization.
Reps Raise Many Issues
Meeting yesterday at the East Brunswick school administration building, the representatives from districts like Summit, Leonia, the Chathams, Princeton and Glen Ridge opined for the better part of three hours about the brave new world they stepped into this week with Gov. Chris Christie’s signing of the new 2 percent cap on school, municipal and county property taxes.
“The effective date is immediate, for your next budget,” said Lynne Strickland, the coalition’s longtime director, reading from the legislation.
Coupled with Christie’s deep cuts in state aid for next year -- which for some around the table means elimination of virtually all of their state aid -- much of the talk centered on labor contracts and special education, probably the two biggest cost drivers in school budgets.
David Abbott, superintendent of Marlboro schools, said his district recently settled a contentious teachers’ contract with annual raises in the 4 percent range, good enough for the old 4 percent cap.
But even with concessions in healthcare benefits, “we’re starting in a $3.1 million hole right there,” said Abbott, the coalition’s president. “Can I write a letter to the Governor about that?”
As Christie and legislators negotiated in Trenton over the extent of the cap, at one point 2.5 percent, then 2.9 percent, one superintendent said she was negotiating with a local and was close to settlement on a 2.5 percent raises.
When the final 2.0 percent cap was announced, “we had to reopen the discussion,” she said.
Concern Over Contract Limits
Much of the concern is over a provision not yet signed into law but promoted by Christie that would give the state power to limit all contract raises to a set level, presumably 2.0 percent to match the cap.
The proposal is part of the Governor’s so-called toolkit of measures that would help schools and municipalities bring down costs. Those proposals are to be taken up by the legislature this summer.
But Verona, for instance, recently settled a contract at 3.8 percent that will save the district $800,000 in healthcare costs and has allowed it to keep the tax increase this year to 1.1 percent, said superintendent Charles Sampson.
The new limit “basically says ‘don’t negotiate well,’” he said. “The reality is we could give you a 2 percent contract, but it could cost more than a 3.8.”
‘Labor War’?
And as scores of districts are now in negotiation under the new limits, what do they say to their unions who cite the older contracts with higher raises in the district next door that did not face the same limits?
“If we are going to have straight percentages in our contracts,” said Jan Furman, superintendent of Northern Valley regional schools in Bergen County, “we better be talking about a toolkit or we’ll have labor war, big time.”
Furman’s biggest complaint, though, was over a special education system that she said provides all the wrong incentives. She told the story of the student placed in a residential program in Utah, which through negotiation with parents was less expensive than the Bergen County special services schools a couple of towns away.
“Somehow we need to educate the public that we are making business decisions about where their children are placed,” she said. “The system is inherently wrong.”
As the meeting moved on, the topics grew wide-ranging. Strickland, the organization’s director, said one district is considering withholding payment of tuition and transportation costs for students to attend magnet schools in the county vocational district, contending it’s not a state mandate.
“These things are happening, these conversations are occurring,” said Strickland.
Glen Ridge made news recentlywhen it announced it would consider all options for saving money, including converting its own public schools to charter schools. Abbott in Marlboro said that was a discussion he had with his board as well.
Elisabeth Ginsburg, Glen Ridge’s board president, said it came from voters who looked at their property taxes -- averaging $16,000 a year -- and public schools that were no longer getting any help from the state.
“We had some quite eloquent voters stand up and say, basically, ‘we’re screwed,’” she said. “They asked us what we’re doing to explore all these areas.”
7-16-10 Phila Inquirer ‘Christie targets salaries of school superintendents’
By Rita Giordano
Inquirer Staff Writer
Gov. Christie proposed salary caps on Thursday to limit, and in many cases cut, what the state's public school districts pay their superintendents and other top administrators.
The measure, which would take effect when an administrator's current contract expired, is among those in Christie's "tool kit" to help districts control costs and live within the recently signed 2 percent cap on property-tax increases.
"While families and school districts across the state cope with fewer resources and continued fiscal challenges, many school administrators continue to receive salaries that are out of proportion with the private sector and current economic realities," Christie said in a written statement.
State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler will propose regulations by Aug. 6 to limit pay for superintendents, assistant superintendents, and business administrators. The caps, which could go into effect as soon as Dec. 20, do not require legislative approval, according to administration spokesmen.
According to preliminary guidelines, superintendents' maximum base salaries would be determined by the number of students in the district. Merit bonuses, tied to student achievement, could be as much as 15 percent of base pay, but they could not earn pension credits.
A superintendent's maximum base pay in a district of up to 250 students would be $120,000. In a district of 3,001 to 10,000 students, it would be $175,000.
The state's 16 districts with more than 10,000 students - which include two locally - would be subject to separate rules. In Cherry Hill, Superintendent David Campbell, who plans to retire in June, earns more than $277,000, according to figures released by the state. In Camden, schools chief B. LeFra Young is paid more than $239,000.
Roughly 70 percent of superintendents statewide earn more than the proposed caps, according to the state. Administration officials estimate the salary limits would save nearly $9.8 million annually.
Some Republican legislators were quick to praise Christie's measure. Assemblymen Domenick DiCicco Jr., from Gloucester County, and David Rible, from Monmouth County, announced their intention to draft legislation to make the salary caps permanent. The regulations to be proposed by Schundler would remain for five years.
"Once our legislation is enacted, it will be much tougher to repeal, regardless of which administration is in power," DiCicco said.
The wage caps got a less-than-glowing reception from other quarters. Many expressed concern that they would cost the state quality education leaders.
Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, said that despite the group's appreciation for New Jersey's financial crisis, "we are dismayed to hear that locally negotiated school administrator contracts are categorized as 'abuse,' " a reference to language in a news release regarding current salaries.
New Jersey education administrative costs are less than those in 41 other states, Bozza said.
The New Jersey School Boards Association has urged the administration to adopt a number of "tool kit" changes to help control districts' labor costs, but had not suggested salary caps.
Marie S. Bilik, association executive director, praised the notion of merit bonuses tied to educational advances, but said her group wanted to study possible impacts of wage caps.
"Major changes in compensation could affect the pool of qualified chief school administrators available to New Jersey school districts," Bilik said in a written statement.
Cinnaminson schools chief Salvatore Illuzzi, whose salary exceeds the proposed cap and has been the target of public criticism, predicted the limits would shrink the pool of administrators willing to work in New Jersey.
Some principals would make almost as much as their superintendents though they work a shorter year, Illuzzi said. That could limit their desire to be promoted into top administration, he said.
"It could be a fairly shortsighted proposal that would make people rethink staying in [the state] or coming into the profession," Illuzzi said.
Steve Weinstein, Haddonfield school board president, said his district had lost its last two superintendents to higher-paying jobs in Pennsylvania. The district is seeking a replacement for Alan Fegley, who left to lead the Phoenixville School District.
"In the current climate," both economic and political, Weinstein said, "the pool of superintendents has gone down."
Instead of focusing on administrative costs, which he said did not make up the bulk of budgets, he called for reforming how education is delivered.
"We don't seem to be having that conversation," he said.
Christie's announcement came after a consultant recommended that New Jersey increase the amount it charges schools, towns, and counties for employee health insurance by 6 to 12 percent.
The recommended rate increases far exceed Christie's 2 percent cap on property-tax increases. Health insurance is exempt from the cap because school districts and towns don't control the cost of premiums.
Contact staff writer Rita Giordano at 856-779-3841 or rgiordano@phillynews.com.
7-16-10 ‘Another Cap from Christie, This Time for School Superintendents’
New plan would limit superintendent salaries to $175,000 -- just what the governor earns -- and could go as low as $120,000
By John Mooney, July 16 in Education |1 Comment
In his campaign to bring down public education costs, Gov. Chris Christie yesterday turned school administration pay on its head.
Christie and education commissioner Bret Schundler announced a unilateral move to cap the vast majority of future superintendent salaries in the state to no more than $175,000 – Christie’s own salary -- depending on the size of their districts. For those with 250 students or fewer, the cap would be as low as $120,000.
The plan also calls for merit or performance incentives of up to 15 percent of base pay, with the state largely setting the goals, with some input from local boards.
In a press conference held in a Spotswood elementary school, Christie said superintendent pay -- averaging this year about $167,000 last year -- “has gotten out of control.”
‘No Longer Afraid’
“This is a new day for superintendent pay in New Jersey,” Christie said, “and I think it will lead a trend across the country. Everyone knows this is right to do, but people are afraid to take the first step. New Jersey is no longer afraid.”
Schundler said there was no link between size of a district or the performance of a district and the amount it pays its superintendent, citing one district with fewer than 250 students that pays its top official $230,000.
“We decided it was time to bring some rationality to the system” he said.
Potentially taking effect by the end of the year and not needing legislative or State Board of Education approval, the move could effectively give pay cuts to two thirds of all school administrators now exceeding the limits when their current contracts are up, Schundler’s office said.
The Northern Counties
The bulk of them are in the northern half of the state, with virtually all of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris and Union counties’ superintendents being overpaid by Christie’s standards.
South Hackensack’s superintendent position would see its $240,000 salary cut in half, the largest single cut in the state, followed by the Morris-Union Jointure district and Ridgefield Park, each paid close to $100,000 more than Christie’s new rules would allow.
Of the 20 most “underpaid,” 17 are in South Jersey districts, including Hamilton Township, Bellmawr and Willingboro. Only one South Jersey district is in the 20 districts most over the limits, the Burlington County Special Services District.
In one caveat, the pay for superintendents in the 16 districts with the very largest enrollments -- including Newark and Elizabeth but also Brick and Cherry Hill -- will still be left at the discretion of the commissioner. The highest of them is Newark’s Clifford Janey, with a base pay of $284,000.
Shaking Up the System
But it’s not just superintendents. The move could also jolt entire pay systems below the top position, with scores of assistant superintendents and other top staff -- including a few principals -- possibly making more than their bosses. Non-tenured administrators would face similar limits, but tenured ones would at most face pay freezes.
Much of the job of sorting it all out will be left to officials like Patrick Piegari, the state’s executive county superintendent in Middlesex and the final arbiter of all administrative salaries in that county already.
Under compensation limits already imposed on superintendents in 2007, the county superintendents must sign off every contract of top administrators. Now will come the task of matching those contracts with the detailed new guidelines that the department said would be filed in the next month, with plans for final adoption by the end of 2010.
Attending the press conference yesterday, Piegari said the squeeze on all administrative positions may lead many current principals and assistant superintendents -- typically next up for the superintendent jobs -- to forego the promotion.
‘A New Wave'
“There will be a turnover, and as a result the colleges and districts will have to do more to prepare more people to go into the field,” he said. “It’s going to take a while, and I think you will see a new wave of people coming in.”
There are many other questions as well, such as how the performance incentives will be developed to provide the extra pay and, in effect, the only raises available under the new rules?
How will the new limits affect interim superintendents who fill vacancies for months at a time, an increasing practice for many districts as they struggle to find superintendents? And how will this affect those superintendent searches now ongoing, of which there are at least three dozen, including in Somerville, Madison and Haddon Heights?
“Obviously, major changes in compensation could affect the pool of qualified chief school administrators available to New Jersey school districts,” said Marie S. Bilik, executive director of the state’s school boards asociation.
A Surprise Move
The breadth of Christie’s move caught many by surprise, with the state’s superintendents group being apprised of the impending announcement only on Wednesday.
“This is not comprehensive reform,” said Richard Bozza, the executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators. “This is a political gesture that doesn’t recognize the facts.”
The 9.5 percent of total school spending on administration is the ninth lowest share in the country, below the national average of 10.8 percent, he said. A study conducted in 2007 found that New Jersey superintendent pay at the time was below the average of neighboring states.
This is hardly the first time the superintendents have been political targets of governors. Nearly two decades ago, it was former Gov. Jim Florio who ended tenure for superintendents, a move that many say led to a free agency in the position and its ever-escalating wages.
A Scathing Report
In 2007, then-Gov. Jon Corzine imposed new limits on the extra compensation that superintendents receive in sick pay and other compensation, after a scathing state investigative report. Some of those restrictions are still under challenge in state court by Bozza’s group.
But Bozza said this time may be the toughest yet for his members, saying he’s heard of one superintendent coming from out of state who already backed out when hearing rumors of the new limits. He expected many more now on the job to retire once their contracts are up.
“It seems to me a policy on the run,” he said. “If I was a superintendent and about to take a pay cut, it would almost make sense to apply to be a principal.”
But few at the Spotswood press conference had much sympathy for superintendents who choose to leave rather than face the new limits. Christie put it bluntly: “If that’s the sole reason hey’re here, then good bye.”
Star Ledger 7-16-10 ‘Gov. Christie reveals plans to limit N.J. superintendents' salaries, base pay on merit pay’ Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie Thursday revealed a plan to end the bidding wars that have fattened school superintendents’ salaries, saying he will limit their pay based on how many students they serve and offer bonuses tied to student achievement.
The proposal would mean salary cuts for 366 superintendents at the end of their current contracts, saving school districts $9.8 million, the Republican governor said. The new rules also would encourage districts to share superintendents and administrative teams, reducing the overlap in those positions and producing more savings, Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said.
Superintendents and education advocates predicted quality leaders would rush for the exits, and it would be difficult to attract replacements. But Christie said the potential for merit pay — up to 15 percent above the overall salary — would reward the best educators while stopping the competition between districts that hurts taxpayers.
"People are bouncing around like free agents in baseball, and getting higher and higher salaries as they go," Christie said at a news conference at a Spotswood elementary school. "What we’re trying to do here is to shift the paradigm."
Maximum pay for superintendents would be pegged to enrollment, from $120,000 for the smallest districts up to $175,000 for districts with between 3,000 and 10,000 students. The 16 largest districts do not have an upper limit, but Schundler said he expects pay to drop there too, as the Department of Education sets criteria tailored to their needs.
The salary limits would also apply to nontenured assistant superintendents and business administrators at the start of their next contract, while those who are tenured and earning higher than the scale would see their pay frozen, Schundler said. Interim superintendents also would be covered by the rules, he said.
The proposal does not require legislative approval and would be enforced by county executive superintendents, who are appointed by the governor. It would not affect principals, who like teachers are covered by collective bargaining agreements, Schundler said.
"It seems to be just foolish, because many superintendents would be making less than the principals working in their district," said Jim O’Neill, superintendent in the District of the Chathams in Morris County. O’Neill, who makes $210,000, would see his pay drop to $175,000 for overseeing a district of about 4,000 students.
"I think that if he was on the other side of this, he would call this arbitrary and capricious," O’Neill said.
The plan disregards cost of living differences across the state, said Bruce Baker, an assistant professor at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education.
"If you’re not concerned with quality, fine," he said.
Following Christie’s divisive and largely unsuccessful push for a voluntary teacher pay freeze, the administrator plan strikes at populist territory that has long infuriated taxpayers. A recent Star-Ledger review found six-figure salaries are common among administrators, with 235 of them earning more than the governor’s $175,000 salary in the 2008-09 school year.
But superintendents said they earn their keep through their specialized understanding of personnel, finance, curriculum, administration and school-construction issues.
"We really paid our dues," said Kenneth Knops, who would see $10,000 lopped off his $175,000 salary as superintendent in Clark. "I’ve been in education for 34 years, took a lot of graduate courses, went to a lot of night meetings. I started my career in 1976, making $9,300 a year as a teacher. It’s been a long climb to the top, so I’d certainly have mixed feelings about taking a pay cut."
Proposed pay limits for school administrators
School enrollment / maximum pay
up to 250 / $120,000
251 - 750 / $135,000
751 - 1,500 / $150,000
1,501 - 3,000 / $165,000
3,001 - 10,000 / $175,000
More than 10,000 / to be determined by the Department of Education
School boards were also divided, despite Christie’s promises they would benefit from the new structure and be able to offer merit pay based on factors most important at the local level. Merit pay would not count toward the educators’ pensions.
"We want qualified people, and we don’t want New Jersey at a disadvantage in attracting those candidates," said New Jersey School Boards Association spokesman Frank Belluscio.
Christie acknowledged "we may lose some" superintendents because of the pay cuts, "but if that’s the sole reason they’re here, then goodbye," he said.
"The parents who are paying the bills through their property taxes have sustained pay cuts," he said.
The salary limits would not include other forms of compensation, such as accumulated sick and vacation time, which had already been curtailed in 2007, Schundler said. He acknowledged there are long-serving superintendents who will still "retire with very large payouts," but noted the average superintendent has only spent about two years in a district so the changes would be felt "in very short order."
Eliot Caroom, Karl De Vries, Tomás Dinges, Ryan Hutchins, Eugene Paik, Veronica Slaght and Stephen Stirling of the New Jersey Local News Service contributed to this report.
Asbury Park Press/Gannett ‘Christie seeks cap on school leaders' salaries’
SPOTSWOOD — Gov. Chris Christie Thursday detailed a proposal that would limit base salaries for superintendents and other school administrators based on enrollment while giving merit-based bonuses to leaders of districts that meet or exceed academic expectations.
The plan, unveiled by the Republican governor at E. Raymond Appleby School in Spotswood, would cut the salaries of superintendents who make more than a proposed maximum of $175,000.
Christie said 70 percent of the state's school superintendents make more than that proposed maximum salary.
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· Poll: Gov Chris Christie gets high marks on cost-cutting
"Since 2001, we've seen superintendent pay rise 46 percent on average," Christie said. "That's more than twice the rate of inflation during that time."
Superintendents' base salaries would be capped at $120,000 for those who run K-8 districts with up to 250 students and gradually climb to $175,000 for superintendents in districts with up to 10,000 students. In the 16 districts statewide with over 10,000 students, superintendent's compensation would be negotiated individually with the state Department of Education.
The proposal would apply to superintendents after their current contracts expire, Christie said.
"We're not going to interfere with anybody's current contract," he said. "But when those contracts expire, the new sliding scale must be adhered to and will be enforced by the commissioner of education."
Similar pay limits would apply to nontenured business administrators and assistant superintendents, according to state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, who added that those whose pay exceeded the new limits above the pay scale and had tenure would have their salaries frozen.
Merit-based bonuses could amount to up to 15 percent of a superintendent's salary, Christie said. The proposal would allow local school boards to help set criteria for merit pay.
"But this would be a nonpensionable portion," Christie said. "We don't want to encourage people to just being giving out merit bonuses in order to increase somebody's ability to get a bigger pension."
Schundler said that although the average superintendent contract is three to five years, they remain in districts an average of two years.
"People are bouncing around like free agents in baseball," Christie said.
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· Poll: Gov Chris Christie gets high marks on cost-cutting
Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, said in a statement that the proposal could have some unfavorable consequences, including "experienced school district leaders leaving the state to work in nearby states."
"In response to today's press conference, school administrators recognize the current fiscal crisis requires that all aspects of local spending need to be evaluated, including administrator salaries, but, we are dismayed to hear that locally negotiated school administrator contracts are categorized as abuse and we believe a blanket statewide salary cap is not the answer," Bozza said.
"New Jersey education administrative costs are less than those in 41 other states, and have been negotiated by taxpayers' elected school board local officials," he continued. "Educational needs, as well as future contracts, should remain a local issue."
Christie, who said his proposal will encourage districts to share superintendents, said he hopes other states will follow his example.
"Everyone knows this is right to do, but people have been afraid to take the first step, to say we're going to be the leaders of this," he said. "New Jersey is no longer afraid of being a leader in a whole bunch of very difficult fiscal issues that confront every state in America."
The announcement was made in Spotswood, Schundler said, because the Spotswood school district has exceeded academic expectations while its administrators have taken a pay freeze.
Leo D. Rommel: 732-565-7296; lrommel@NJPressMedia.com
