A proposed plan by Governor Chris Christie to cap salaries for school district superintendents around the state could affect the salary of the WW-P district’s superintendent — but probably not until 2015.
Under Christie’s proposal, originally announced over the summer, the maximum base salary that a district could pay a superintendent would be determined by 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, according to information on the governor’s website. 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.
According to the WW-P school district website, the district educates around 9,500 students. On the surface, this would mean that under Christie’s plan, that the highest salary that Superintendent Victoria Kniewel could earn would be $175,000.
However, Larry Shanok, the assistant superintendent for finance, points out that the superintendent was awarded a contract extension in June, and the new legislation, if passed, would not affect her salary until it expires in 2015.
The WW-P school board approved a four-year contract extension for Kniewel in June that included a pay freeze for the upcoming school year at $192,676. Her contract would have expired on June 30, 2011, but the four-year contract extension is good until June 30, 2015.
Typically, the board agrees to review Kniewel’s salary at the conclusion of each school year. This past year, Kniewel asked that 1.5 percent of her base salary be contributed toward her health insurance costs beginning in July, rather than waiting until the mandated date of July 1, 2012, also a result of a new state law requiring public employees to contribute toward health benefits when their current contracts expire.
When that contract expires, the capped salary would come into play, but even then, it would be more than $175,000, says Shanok. Kniewel would be eligible to receive $2,500 more as a superintendent in charge of a district with a high school (WW-P has two).
However, there are even more ways for superintendents to earn money included in the governor’s proposal, Shanok explained. “Her $192,676 doesn’t change for as long as her contract holds, but the implication is that once the contract holds, it would be $177,500 (including the $2,500), plus the possibility of a 15 percent bonus, which gives her the possibility of earning more than the $192,000,” said Shanok.
That’s because the proposal allows superintendents to be awarded bonuses in 3.33 percent increments for “quantitative and qualitative merit” — approved by the executive county superintendent.
Still, says Shanok, “either way you cut it, she’s not paid enough to solve our budget problems that way.”
He said many other districts, where superintendents contracts will expire soon, will have to lower the salaries, which means they may have a hard time attracting the best qualified candidates.
“The state has been responsible for the larger districts for some time,” Shanok said. “If they had a great hiring mechanism, they should have demonstrated it.”
In the larger districts, the salary caps don’t apply, he said. “They’re aware of the complications there are go get good people, so they exempt themselves,” he said.
School board president Hemant Marathe was also concerned about the limitations. “We are interested in it because we want to make sure we have the ability to attract the best people in the district,” he said.
He pointed to some districts where the cost of living is higher and should be reflected in the salary offered to senior administrators.
