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The most major policy decision to impact public education school finance in recent history was struck with the Governor's signature Tuesday on the 2% property tax cap bill. Two days later, the Governor and Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler announced a new cap system on current school superintendent and other high level administrators (Non-tenured Asst. Supt's. and Business Administrators, e.g.)salaries, that could reduce their current salaries of about 70% of today's superintendents and the plan could be in place by December 20th of this year. Legislation is not required to effect this restructure; public hearings do have to be held by the Department of Education. GSCS's prime mission is for high quality public education for New Jersey's students. The abruptness of these policy changes, lack of public input and public analyses of their consequences, however, is a great worry to our members, our parents. An ever-diminishing pool of applicant's for the position of superintendent in New Jersey is predictable and leadership at the local level requires experienced administrators more than ever, especially given deep aid cutbacks on all districts,major layoffs & program cancellations coupled with the onset of hard cap 2% on property taxes staring this fiscal years. And,suburban districts are the hardest hit. To transition during these severe fiscal times and be able to maintain quality education is our member districts' most important and necessary goal; to lose knowledgeable leadership at this time cannot help but destablize our schools when stability is more needed than ever. GSCS is concerend that this proposal is preciptous and that the potential negative consequences for quality education are probable and all too real. Click here to find crib sheet information on S29, the new property tax cap law, and the superintendent cap proposal.
Property Tax Cap % bill: S29 ‘First Reprint’, includes Conditional Veto stipulations. This bill can be found via the New Jersey Legislature homepage.
Exemptions –
Yes
Health benefits
Pension liabilities (non-certified, e.g.)
Emergencies – certain, such as natural disasters
Debt service
Enrollment Growth per SFRA formula/continues
No
Capital Expenditures, such as ‘pay-as-you go’ types of capital expenditures are in the cap/not a cap exemption for schools.(but these expenses outside the cap for municipalities)
Existing contracts, no exception built-in: the costs of these contracts will be included in the cap
Effective date – immediate/for next year’s school budgets Fiscal Year 2011-2012
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Notable Points from Governor’s Proposal to cap high level administrators salaries, announced 7-15-10
"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.
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. The plan could impact 366 superintendents if applied today.
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.
Similar pay limits would apply to non-tenured 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.
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.
The plan disregards cost of living differences across New Jersey.
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.
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 Dep't. of Education"
Information extracted from articles 7-16-10 in the Philadelphia Inquirer, njspotlight.com, Star Ledger, Asbury Park Press
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Department of Education's Press Release on the Governor's proposal to cap superintendents' salaries -
July 15, 2010 - The Christie Tool Kit:
Putting Children First By Cutting Out-of-Classroom Costs
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: Michael Drewniak |
| Date: Thursday, July 15, 2010 | 609-777-2600 |
The Christie Reform Agenda includes a comprehensive tool kit to provide municipalities and school districts the necessary reform measures that will allow them to keep costs low and fund priority services. The Governor's latest reform proposal caps education administrator pay and puts an end to abuses in the system.
This action has the potential to save almost $9.8 million and help ensure that the maximum amount of education funding stays in the classroom. On average, superintendents' salaries have risen over twice the rate of inflation - a nearly 46 percent increase since 2001. This is a higher increase than teacher compensation or overall education spending. The ultimate cost to New Jersey taxpayers is over $100 million.
The Christie proposal will cut out-of-classroom costs by capping school administrators' salaries and reforming how they are paid.
The Christie proposal brings superintendent salaries in line with district needs. Right now, superintendents in districts with over 1,000 students earn an average of $192,764, while superintendents in districts with fewer than 1,000 students earn an average of $152,764.
These salaries are out of proportion with the private sector, current economic realities and district demands. Under the current proposal, the base pay of superintendents would be capped according to a sliding scale that takes into account the student enrollment of the district(s) overseen, with an increment of $5,000 for each additional district served by a single superintendent, and an increment of $2,500 if the district(s) include(s) at least one high school.
| Student Enrollment of District(s) | Maximum |
| 0 - 250 | $120,000 |
| 251 - 750 | $135,000 |
| 751 - 1,500 | $150,000 |
| 1,501 - 3,000 | $165,000 |
| 3,001 - 10,000 | $175,000 |
| Over 10,000 | * |
* Superintendent compensation in the sixteen districts with student enrollment over 10,000 would be subject to separate rules developed by the Department of Education.
School boards would not be permitted to increase a superintendent's base pay (for example, with longevity increases) beyond these salary caps. Additionally, no superintendent contract that includes a compensation package above these salary caps could be extended; at its expiration, the new compensation package of the superintendent would need to conform to this new policy.
According to New Jersey Department of Education data, 366 school superintendents currently earn more than the new salary cap would permit.
As with all elements of superintendent contracts, the Executive County Superintendents would review and approve superintendent salaries to ensure that they adhere to this policy.
Based on current salaries, 70 percent of superintendents currently earn above the proposed salary cap, costing school districts a total of $9.8 million.
Ultimately, nearly two-thirds of the potential savings would come from six counties: Bergen ($2.2 million), Morris ($1.2 million), Monmouth ($700,000), Middlesex ($700,000), Passaic ($650,000) and Essex ($650,000).
For all new contracts, upon attainment of pre-determined milestones, school districts will be able to provide superintendents a non-pensionable, individual year merit stipend, awarded on the basis of the school district's year-to-year progress relative to specific performance metrics of student learning. The following state guidelines would apply to this opportunity:
- The Department of Education would provide school boards with a list of state-approved quantitative and qualitative merit criteria;
- With Executive County Superintendent approval, boards would be permitted to add to this list one district-requested merit criterion;
- Boards would choose 3 quantitative and 2 qualitative merit criteria from this list;
- Executive County Superintendents would assemble the quantitative and qualitative performance data that forms the basis of a district superintendent's performance evaluation relative to these merit criteria;
- Districts would reward superintendents with an individual year merit stipend equal to 3.33% of base for each quantitative performance criterion achieved and 2.5% of base for each qualitative performance criterion achieved in a given year.
