During the angry debate over teacher pay, little has been said about the higher salaries of New Jersey school administrators. On the contrary, Gov. Chris Christie praises many of them for taking wage freezes while most teachers are refusing. Don’t expect that to last long. “I’m sure that at some point the governor is going to push obviously with administrators...
During the angry debate over teacher pay, little has been said about the higher salaries of New Jersey school administrators. On the contrary, Gov. Chris Christie praises many of them for taking wage freezes while most teachers are refusing.
Don’t expect that to last long.
“I’m sure that at some point the governor is going to push obviously with administrators as well,” said Boonton superintendent Christine Johnson, singled out by Christie for freezing her salary. “I would think that writing is on the wall.”
One reason: six-figure salaries are common among administrators, who include superintendents, assistant superintendents and principals. A Star-Ledger analysis of data from the state Department of Education for 2008-09 found:
* The median salary for full-time school administrators in New Jersey — the salary figure that half of them exceed, and half do not — was $113,083.
* In more than 425 districts, the median salary for an administrator was at least $100,000. Less than 2 percent of teachers — 1.6 percent — made $100,000 or more.
* Christie’s $175,000 salary is less than the pay of 235 school administrators from 184 districts.
A 2008 report commissioned by the New Jersey Association of School Administrators found the average superintendent salary in New Jersey was $154,409, about $9,000 higher than the national average. That compared with $152,782 in New York and $146,906 in Connecticut.
Fewer candidates, greater demand and the difficulties of the job have driven up salaries, said Mike Yaple, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.
“A lot of people are surprised when they see the salaries school administrators command these days, but that’s what’s happening in the nation, not just New Jersey,” he said.
State education commissioner Bret Schundler said the administration will look at managerial level pay.
“We are sensitive about administrator pay as well,” Schundler said. “I do believe we’ve got to rein in pay across the personnel spectrum, so yes, administrators, supervisors.”
Superintendents, who do not have tenure and are not unionized, say their specialized understanding of personnel, finance, curriculum, administration and school-construction issues makes them worth their salary. They compare their positions to CEOs of small companies with hundreds of employees.
Anthony Cavanna, superintendent in West Orange, said his $220,000 salary is fair for overseeing 6,700 students and 700 teachers, and compared a superintendent’s role with the president of a hospital who might earn $600,000.
“One of the things attracting good people, whether they’re teachers or superintendents, is salaries,” said Cavanna, who is giving a portion of his salary back to the district’s scholarship committee. “I’m sure we could pay a little less and still fill the positions, but the question is, ‘Do you get the best people if you don’t offer them the kind of money that they demand?’”
THE PUSH TO REGIONALIZE
The heightened attention on school spending is once again raising questions about consolidating districts to save money.
Christie says there is “more work to do” to keep administrative costs down, and tucked into a package of 33 bills he proposed last week was one that would require collaboration between districts, even crossing county lines. Hunterdon County, which has just under 23,000 students, spends about $19.4 million on full-time administrators in 29 school districts. In contrast, the Toms River Regional School District, which has more than 17,100 students, spends about $8.9 million on full-time administrators.
In Hunterdon County, superintendent Matthew Jennings runs the Alexandria Township district, a twoschool system with 600 students. He said consolidation is inevitable, but any move should be carefully studied and will require parents, teachers and administrators to change their thinking.
“Everybody wants home rule. They feel very connected to having their own superintendent, having their own principal,” he said. “To move from that to having a more regionalized system, it’s going to require people to give up some of the control that they have.”
By Lisa Fleisher and Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau and
Sean Sposito.