>Christie Takes Aim at School Administration Salaries
written by Matt Rooney.
July 15, 2010
blog.savejersey.com/2010/07/15/christie-takes-aim-at-school-administration-salaries.aspx
I can’t wait to see the NJEA try to argue against this plan, Save Jerseyans!
Governor Christie visited a Spotswood (Middlesex County) classroom today and announced plans for an administrative salary cap covering all of New Jersey’s school districts. Pegging pay increases to district size would remove some of the arbitrariness from the administrative pay process and save the taxpayers plenty of dough going forward. Superintendents can get an additional $5,000 for each district they cover, but school boards will not be permitted to go beyond the cap. Assemblymen Rible (R-Monmouth) and DiCiccio (R-Gloucester) have been tapped to introduce the legislation.
According to the Governor, 366 superintendents would see their salaries reduced with this cap in place. I’m looking at you, Dave Verducci.
More background:
Under the proposal, the maximum base salary that a district could pay a superintendent would rise with the size of the school district. The top salary for the superintendent of a K-8 district with fewer than 250 students would be $120,000. From there, salary maximums would gradually step up with the size of the school district to the point that the superintendent of a district with up to 10,000 students could be paid a maximum of $175,000. A superintendent in one of New Jersey’s 16 districts with more than 10,000 students could earn a higher base salary.
In addition, administrator compensation would be restructured to provide the opportunity for non-pensionable, individual year merit stipends if superintendents achieve significant, state-defined improvements in student learning from the year before.
This is the change teachers deserve, too.
It’s not fair to let promising young educators lose their jobs when fat cat administrators collude with their union reps and local school boards to maintain astronomically high salaries. Of course teachers need to start paying for their bennies and pensions at normal private sector levels. That’s clear, but school superintendent salaries, if you can believe it, have actually risen 46% since 2001… a $100 million kick in the ass for state taxpayers. Not a bad gig, huh? I’m going to be a superintendent in my next life, Save Jerseyans.
Example? My favorite Bergen superintendent, David Verducci, earns almost $190,000 annually. Laying him off would’ve freed up enough cash to save 247 teaching jobs in 2010. An extraordinary amount of public money is tied up in salaries for paper pushers!
What will be VERY interesting to see, as I mentioned at the beginning of my post, is how the NJEA responds to this latest toolkit proposal. Will they side with administrators who earn more than the Governor? Or will they support a measure that will save teaching jobs a free up additional funds for classrooms? In essence, it’s their last chance to be something other than a transparently partisan organization. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for a cathartic moment.
blog.savejersey.com/2010/07/15/christie-takes-aim-at-school-administration-salaries.aspx
