New Jersey Journal examines the impact of the state’s superintendent salary caps on the retention of superintendents and asks whether they are fleeing to greener pasture. Roy Montesano, NJ’s 2012 Superintendent of the Year, is profiled: lately of Ramsey Public Schools, he’ll leave for New York State and the chief position at the public schools in Hastings-on-Hudson.
At Ramsey in Bergen County, Montesano made about $220,000 as superintendent of the five-school district with a total enrollment of 2,686 kids. The new cap would cut his salary to $165,000. At Hastings he’ll make $230,000.
Reactions in the field are mixed. Some say that more superintendents will flee to non-capped pastures, particularly in Bergen County, a short hop to New York. (That benefit could be short-lived since Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing a similar cap.) Others say that Jersey districts have had no trouble filling positions, and the Journal notes that “the cap was created in response to public outrage after a few administrators accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in buy-outs and other compensations.”
One nagging worry among NJ school boards is that unless the cap is softened, principals and supervisor salaries may eventually outpace superintendent salaries. Are principal and supervisor position salaries next in line for a state-mandated cap? Or is maintaining equitable payroll distribution the responsibility of your local school board through hard-nosed negotiations with unions?
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Aren't we clever in NJ: When principals' salaries are capped to avoid outrunning those of Supers and BAs, look for caps on teachers' salaries for the same reason vis a vis principals.
Question: when everybody's total comp is capped at levels below current ones, who will come forward to fill these jobs? The fantasists in the "reform" movement believe we can recruit more qualified candidates in the face of these lowered expectations.
This is not the way the World works, in my experience.