Schools

Gov. Cuomo to Propose Salary Cap for School Superintendents

Bill would make $175,000 the top pay for most Nassau County school chiefs.

Last week announced that he will propose a bill to place a cap on the salaries of school superintendents across New York State.

Under the proposal, most Nassau County superintendents would only be able to earn a maximum of $175,000 per year.

“We must wake up to the new economic reality that government must be more efficient and cut the cost of the bureaucracy,” Governor Cuomo said. “We must streamline government because raising taxes is not an option. Reducing back-office overhead, administration, consultants and encouraging consolidations are the best targets to find savings.”

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The cap would only affect to school superintendents and could only be applied after existing contracts expire. However, each individual district would have the voting power to overturn the salary cap and could do so during school budget votes.

Currently more that 33 percent of school superintendents in New York State earn more than $175,000. According to Cuomo’s office, this bill has the potential of $15 million in savings.

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The cap would impose salary limits as follows:

Tier Enrollment Salary Cap 1 0 - 250 $125,000 2 251 - 750 $135,000 3 751 - 1,500 $145,000 4 1,501 - 3,000 $155,000 5 3,001 - 6,500 $165,000 6 6,501+ $175,000

According to the information available on the Mineola school district website, Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler’s salary was $202,800 in the proposed 2010-11 school budget, a 4 percent raise over the previous year. Using the guidelines above, the Mineola superintendent’s salary would be capped at $155,000 because of the district’s population.

“I think (Cuomo) went for a media splash with the numbers he produced,” Nagler said Monday in a telephone interview, “because if you think about it, to not do it regionally is kind of silly when you do it (by the) size of school since its more expensive to live in Long Island and Westchester than it is outside of Albany.

“He’s done an excellent job in taking the emphasis off of a 2 percent tax cap. He talks about his reductions in State Aid, he talks about superintendents’ salaries, but is very quiet on the front of a with no relief from mandates and that will cripple public education.”

Dr. Nagler suggested a “sliding scale” on a regional basis “would have made more sense,” and met with less criticism. The salaries of BOCES superintendents are capped at around $160,000 per year.

“By and large, the northern part of the state, they don’t have problems filling that position,” Nagler said, adding that there is a far smaller applicant pool from Westchester southward.

“Suffolk still has a temporary superintendent,” Nagler said. “Nassau BOCES went through four superintendents in the last 6 years and they just filled it with Tom Rogers who was never a superintendent before.”

It is not known if Cuomo’s cap would affect the salaries of other assistant superintendents in the districts. In several cases, assistant superintendents could be earning more than their superiors.

“That’s the phenomena that you see with BOCES,” Nagler said.

According to the same Mineola school document, the assistant superintendent for curriculum earned $185,000 in both 2009-10 and 2010-11 while the line for business administration and the office of assistant superintendent for finance and operations Jack Waters totaled $286,679 in the proposed 2010-11 budget. Last year, three Mineola teachers reportedly earned more than $150,000. Mineloa principal Mark Barth makes a reported $190,000.

“Who’s going to ascend to that position knowing they’re never going to earn (what) you can earn as a principal?” Dr. Nagler asked. “When you cap a salary and other people can make more than you and you’re supposed to be the boss, why in the world would you do it?”

According to reports, State Sen. Charles Fuschillo, R-Merrick, is proposing a regulation capping the salaries of principals and deputy superintendents as well.

Because principals and all central office workers are unionized, any cap would not take effect until a contract expires.

“Those of my colleagues that are able to retire could simply retire,” Nagler said. “So someone, personally in my case, hypothetically if I had five more years on my contract, in the year six, how could I do that? How could I take a $70,000-$80,000 cut in pay? I’d have to do something else. And that’s either become a deputy superintendent again and go backwards – unless they cap that – and if they cap that I would regret leaving the teachers’ union.”

* Salary data is from the NYS Education Department's Administrative Compensation Information for 2010-2011


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