CALGARY—The Alberta government is going to limit the pay and perks of top school board officials in a move the province estimates will save $1.5 million a year, according to documents obtained from the Ministry of Education.

The documents show the government expects average pay for chief superintendents will be cut by 10 per cent by 2021 as it fully implements rules that will slot all of Alberta’s 74 public, separate, Francophone and charter school authorities into five salary bands based on the size and complexity of each board.

For example, trustees at the four metro boards in Calgary and Edmonton that comprise the top band will have to pay their chief superintendent between $235,000 and $260,000 per year. If there are unique recruitment challenges or exceptional cases, boards can ask the minister of education for permission to pay a salary of up to $275,000.

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The changes are the result of a pay review ordered by Education Minister David Eggen in February after the Alberta School Boards Association released a study that showed on average, salaries for the province’s superintendents were slightly higher than in Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. The average superintendent salary was up 10 per cent over the past five years, while the typical Albertan had seen their pay decline over the same period, the study found.

A Star analysis of what 64 public, separate and Francophone boards paid their chief superintendents last year suggests many will face salary cuts when their contracts come up for renewal under the new rules.

Almost three-quarters were making more than the limit trustees will now be allowed to approve and nearly one-quarter were taking home more than the absolute maximum the minister of education will be allowed to sign off on.

The reappointment of Joan Carr of Edmonton’s Catholic School District — the top paid superintendent in the province last year with total compensation of $422,000 and a base salary of $362,000 — has been stalled in Eggen’s office along with eight other contracts for top board officials pending the results of the pay review.

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Under the new rules, Carr would need to take a cut to her base salary of at least $87,000 in order to stay within the absolute maximum allowed under the regulations.

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There may also be ramifications for the Calgary Board of Education as it finalizes a contract with a chosen successor for the resigning David Stevenson, whose base salary is $295,000 — $20,000 more than the absolute maximum.

The new rules do not apply to existing contracts boards have with superintendents, but any amendment to a deal during its term or a renewal after the maximum five-year term must comply.

The leaked documents also show perks that appear in some current contracts — such as a $1,200 gym membership, payment of up to $10,000 a year to cover post-secondary education expenses for children, $1,200 for spouses to attend board social events and an ill-defined, “executive compensation” fund that paid out up to $25,000 annually in cash — will now be forbidden.

The changes to be announced Friday are the third and final step in the government’s plan to tighten the rules and lower the compensation for top officials paid from the provincial purse.

After cutting pay and perks last year for top executives at Crown agencies, boards and commissions, the government moved last month to limit the salaries for presidents at post-secondary institutions.

A source with knowledge of the new regulations said they will also forbid CBE trustees from including a clause such as the one in Stevenson’s contract that allows him to collect an extra year’s salary of $295,000 when he finally leaves this year, even though he is departing voluntarily.

“New rules would not allow that,” the source said. “Separation allowances ... will be prohibited.”

Under the new rules, the maximum severance amount in the event a contract is terminated early by a board without cause will be based on time served and the maximum salary allowed for that position.

For example, a superintendent with 20 years’ service let go by one of the four biggest boards could get a maximum of 12 months’ salary, or $260,000. A top official with fewer years at a board lower on the salary band would get considerably less.

Vacation accrual payouts — such as the approximately $100,000 accumulated over 40 years of service at the CBE by Stevenson — will still be allowed, but the new rules will forbid boards from giving their chief superintendent more than six weeks of holidays a year.