Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • September 26, 2012 Area Local superintendents face salary cap dilemma by Frank J. McMahon The superintendents of the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School and the Franklin Lakes K-8 school districts will be facing a difficult choice when their contracts expire because of the new superintendent salary cap imposed by Governor Chris Christie and the New Jersey Department of Education. According to the New Jersey School Boards Association, the superintendent salary cap law was announced by Governor Christie and then-Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler in July 2010. The law was implemented in February 2011 by way of a commissioner of education regulation that did not need the approval from the state board of education. Under the regulation, the salary caps range from $125,000 for districts with fewer than 250 students, rising incrementally to $175,000 for districts with between 6,501 and 10,000 students. The NJSBA expects that 360 school superintendents in the state will be affected by the new regulations when their current contracts expire because about 70 percent of the state’s local school superintendents currently earn more than the caps. As their contracts expire, the superintendents will have to choose to accept a sizable decrease in salary, retire, or find a post in a state without a salary cap. Dr. C. Lauren Schoen, the superintendent of the Ramapo Indian Hills school district, is facing that choice now because her three-year contract will expire on June 30, 2013. Frank Romano, Ed.D., superintendent of the Franklin Lakes K-8 district, will face that choice in 2014 when his four-year contract expires. In 2009, Schoen received a three-year contract at a starting salary of $197,500. Based on the current enrollment of 2,338, the maximum base salary she would be able to receive in a new contract is $155,000 plus an additional stipend of $2,500 because her district includes a high school, and the potential 15 percent bonus permitted by the new regulation. Ira Belsky, the president of the Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education, said there is not much the school board can do, because the limits are set by law. Belsky also pointed out that the situation is complicated by the fact that the school board election is being held in November and the new board will not be seated until Jan. 1. He said if Schoen decides to accept the new salary cap, a contract could not be finalized until the new board is seated. Belsky criticized the new law, pointing out that Schoen could be receiving a salary next year that is lower than those of some of the administrators she supervises. He said the school board has not yet scheduled any public meetings to discuss the superintendent’s contract, although the board is very much aware of the situation. He said the board is beginning to think about the process, although all the current board can do is set the table for the new board to act expeditiously next year. Romano currently earns $202,467 in a school district that has 1,320 students. That enrollment requires a salary cap of $145,000, which, even with the 15 percent bonus, would result in a sizable salary reduction. At a community forum in January, Romano told the public that he is not looking to leave the district, but because of the recent salary caps, he has to do what is best for his career and his family. The NJSBA anticipated that about 25 percent of all the superintendents in the state would be retiring or seeking employment elsewhere at the end of the 2010-11 school year due to the salary caps and changes to the state’s pension system. Several superintendents have already decided to leave the state since the salary caps were imposed. Roy Montesano, who was superintendent of the Ramsey School District for six years and a Bergen County educator for more than 30 years, left Ramsey for a superintendent’s position in Hastings-on-Hudson in New York. James Montesano, the former superintendent of the Paramus School system and a 33-year veteran of the Bergen County education system, accepted a similar position in Nyack, New York in June 2011. Many taxpayers see the cap as a way to reduce rising school costs. According to a recent poll by Quinnipiac University, 68 percent of voters said the cap is a good way to help balance school budgets, while 25 percent said it was meddling in local government. According to New Jersey Department of Education Spokeswoman Barbara Morgan, the department believes the caps have accomplished the goal of helping to rein in excessive spending in school districts, and that there are (continued on page 15)