Bill Text: NJ ACR195 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges Commissioner of Education to suspend regulations on school district superintendent maximum salary amount for certain contract terms, and not to readopt at sunset.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-10-02 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [ACR195 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-ACR195-Introduced.html
ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 195
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
216th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED OCTOBER 2, 2014
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman MILA M. JASEY
District 27 (Essex and Morris)
Assemblyman DAVID W. WOLFE
District 10 (Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Urges Commissioner of Education to suspend regulations on school district superintendent maximum salary amount for certain contract terms, and not to readopt at sunset.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Concurrent Resolution urging the Commissioner of Education to suspend the regulations on the maximum salary amount for school district superintendents.
Whereas, In 2007 the executive county superintendent of schools was given the authority pursuant to N.J.S.18A:7-8 to review and approve all employment contracts for superintendents of schools; and
Whereas, The process for the review of those contracts was included in the accountability regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Education in 2008; and
Whereas, In 2011, former Commissioner of Education, Chris Cerf, amended the accountability regulations to define a maximum salary amount for school district superintendents, and to provide that a superintendent's employment contract may not include an annual salary that exceeds the maximum; and
Whereas, The maximum salary amount for a superintendent is based on the student enrollment of the school district plus, if applicable, an additional district increment or a high school increment; and
Whereas, When the Legislature provided for the review of superintendent contracts, it never contemplated, discussed, or authorized the establishment of a maximum salary amount; and
Whereas, The consequences of the commissioner's regulation on maximum salaries has been an exodus of experienced superintendents from New Jersey to surrounding states due in part to the fact that the State's maximum salary amounts are well below the salaries paid to superintendents employed in similar school districts in the surrounding region; and
Whereas, The Legislature has authorized and the State has established school district fiscal accountability measures, including the 2% tax levy cap and the per pupil administrative cost limit, that act to ensure that school district spending is controlled and appropriately directed toward instructional programs and services; and
Whereas, The establishment of maximum salaries for school district superintendents shrinks the pool of potential experienced candidates and acts to inhibit the ability of boards of education to select the educational leader whom the board determines would be the most capable of advancing both the educational and fiscal goals of the district; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):
1. The Legislature of the State of New Jersey urges the Commissioner of Education to suspend the regulations on the maximum salary amount for a superintendent of schools for those superintendent contracts that have a contract term that begins on July 1, 2015, and not to readopt the regulations when they sunset on November 25, 2016.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate to the Commissioner of Education and each member of the State Board of Education.
STATEMENT
This concurrent resolution urges the Commissioner of Education to suspend the regulations on the maximum salary amount for a superintendent of schools for those superintendent contracts that have a contract term that begins on July 1, 2015, and not to readopt the regulations when they sunset on November 25, 2016. The consequences of the commissioner's regulation on maximum salaries has been an exodus of experienced superintendents from New Jersey to surrounding states due in part to the fact that the State's maximum salary amounts are well below the salaries paid to superintendents employed in similar school districts in the surrounding region. The establishment of maximum salaries for school district superintendents shrinks the pool of potential experienced candidates and acts to inhibit the ability of boards of education to select the educational leader whom the board determines would be the most capable of advancing both the educational and fiscal goals of the district.
