Christie's pay cap is set to take effect Feb. 7
Governor Chris Christie in his first town hall meeting of the year in Paramus.TRENTON — A suit filed today challenging the Department of Education’s role in delaying proper review of schools chief contracts is the first step toward a legal battle by a state school administrators association over Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed superintendent pay caps.
Brought jointly by the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and two Morris County superintendents – Jim O’Neill of the Chathams and Rene Rovtar of Long Hill – the complaint alleges a moratorium on contract approval until the DOE completes an "inventory" of those contracts is illegal.
Allison Kobus, a DOE spokesperson, said the department had no comment on the filing.
The freeze began with a Nov. 15 memo from acting Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks ordering executive county superintendents to halt their review and approval of new contracts for schools chiefs until further notice.
"Defendants seek to delay review and approval of superintendent contracts for an unreasonable length of time, and until proposed regulations which purport to reduce and cap superintendent salaries take effect," the suit argues.
Christie’s proposed regulations – which would link superintendent salaries to district enrollment and cap them at $175,000 – are set to take effect on Feb. 7.
NJASA Executive Director Richard Bozza said Hendricks exceeded her authority in sending the memo and trying to enact new rulemaking unilaterally. Though the state superior court won’t hear or rule on the case until well after the salary cap regulations’ effective date, Bozza hopes the court’s decision will be retroactive.
"Anyone who submitted a contract before Feb. 7 would have it reviewed based on the standards for review still in place today," Bozza said. "We anticipate this suit will also lead to a legal challenge of the cap itself."
The ASA cannot question the superintendent pay cap’s lawfulness until it becomes official in a few weeks, Bozza added.
Chathams Superintendent Jim O’Neill signed on to the suit because he considers the cap "a very shortsighted policy and an unwise move that will have a wide-ranging, detrimental effect on the quality of education in New Jersey."
Since O’Neill is of retirement age, he said he can handle the deluge of disapproval that might come from the suit more easily than his younger colleagues.
"I didn’t think it was fair for guys with 10 or more years left before retirement to bear the brunt of the criticism for bringing a case like this," O’Neill said. "This argument about $45,000 is specious and disingenuous."
If the suit is unsuccessful, O’Neill’s current contract will expire in June 2011 and his salary will drop from $210,058 to $165,000. The Chathams board of education voted in December to endorse a new, five-year, cap-exceeding contract for O’Neill, but Morris County’s top school official has not agreed to review it, per Hendricks’ memo.
Three other legal challenges to the contract approval stay brought by boards of education in Parsippany-Troy Hills, Hoboken and Westfield have not yet been heard by the state superior court.