School superintendents' salaries could jump to over $220K with cap lift

A bonus incentive to keep school superintendents in state during salary cap restrictions set by Gov. Chris Christie five years ago will not be nixed even though the salary cap was lifted in May. Now those bonuses can increase superintendents' salaries to over $220,000.

In 2011 hoping to give local tax relief and put more money back into the classroom, Christie enacted salary cap guidelines for superintendents ranging from $125,000 to $175,000 based on district size. At the same time, pay incentives based on the superintendent meeting district goals were created. The bonuses require annual board of education approval.

The new salary cap created in May is a base salary of $147,794 for districts with 749 students or less, $169,689 for districts with 750 to 2,999 students, and $191,584 for districts with 3,000 or more students

(See chart below for how superintendent salaries could increase throughout North Jersey.)

The bonuses were created to help combat an exodus of superintendents leaving to nearby states that offer higher salaries. At the time, 70 percent of superintendents were making above Christie's salary cap.

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For the last five years, superintendents could not receive increases, only the bonuses. Now superintendents can also earn an annual 2 percent increase that exceeds the salary cap.

Although the salary cap expired, the merit bonuses did not. Superintendents will still be entitled to 14.99 percent of their salaries in merit bonuses. A superintendent making $191,584 could rise to $220,302, if his or her merit-based goals are met.

The 2016-2017 median superintendent salary in New Jersey is $147,500, according to the Department of Education.

Merit bonuses

The merit goals are determined by the district's school board and the bonuses must be approved by the New Jersey Department of Education executive county superintendent.

The bonuses are based off of three quantitative goals worth 3.33 percent each of the superintendent's base salary and two qualitative goals worth 2.5 percent each of the base salary, totaling 14.99 percent.

For superintendents like Lodi's Frank Quatrone already making $167,500, under the new maximum salary guidelines his salary can jump to $191,584 without merit bonuses. With merit bonuses his salary would jump to $220,302.

His contract expired on June 30 and is being negotiated by the board of education.

This year, a superintendent making $167,500 could have also received $25,108 in merit bonuses.

Examples of merit goals range from enrolling more students in honor courses, implementing more technology initiatives, or creating new programs for teachers or parents.

The New Jersey School Board Association believes that school boards should have the option to establish merit-goals that are tied to educational achievements.

Pay raises

Excluding regional and vocational schools, Bergen County has 13 school districts with superintendents in schools with over 3,000 students and making $167,500. The schools include Bergenfield, Cliffside Park, Englewood, Fair Lawn, Fort Lee, Garfield, Hackensack, Lodi, Mahwah, Paramus, Ridgewood, Teaneck and Tenafly. Even if those superintendents' contracts are not up, there are options available for board of educations and superintendents to rescind, renegotiate or amend contracts bringing their salary to $191,584, according to NJ Department of Education Press Secretary David Saenz.

"Some superintendent contracts from recent years had provisions specifically reserving the right to renegotiate the contract in the event that the salary cap regulations expired or were revised," Saenz said.

Against any cap

While the new caps offer "more flexibility", the New Jersey School Board Association still maintains that it's still an "unnecessary cap within a cap" due to the 2 percent tax levy cap and the 2.5 percent limit increases in administrative spending, New Jersey School Board Association Publications Manager Janet Bamford said.

"The NJSBA believes that the local school board should have the authority to determine the compensation of its chief administrator," Bamford said. "The NJSBA’s purpose is not to seek higher salaries for administrators, but to ensure that local school boards have the ability to hire the best qualified superintendent to lead the school district."

New Jersey also has the fifth-lowest expenditures on school and district administration in the county, according to the U.S. Department of Education. "New Jersey public schools are far from administratively top heavy," Bamford said.

The New Jersey Education Association opposed the superintendent salary pay caps five years ago, NJEA Director of Communication Steve Baker said.

"We thought it was the wrong approach and that proved itself," Baker said. "We had a concern it would drive good people out of the state and out of the profession and that's the experience that a lot of districts had."

In 2014, 54 percent of the administrators across the state left their jobs, according to NJSEA. In the entire decade before the cap, resignations didn't top 21 percent.