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Gov. Cuomo Proposes Salary Cap for SuperintendentsPOSTED March 7, 2011 ALBANY -- Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that he will submit a program bill to cap the salaries of school superintendents across the state. The cap would be based upon student enrollment and if approved would save a combined $15 million. "We must wake up to the new economic reality that government must be more efficient and cut the cost of the bureaucracy. We must streamline government because raising taxes is not an option. Reducing back-office overhead, administration, consultants, and encouraging consolidations are the best targets to find savings," Governor Cuomo said. Cuomo has criticized superintendents for making more money than he does. Cuomo's salary as Governor of New York is $179,000 and he has promised to give back 5% of his salary due to the state's financial problems. The cap would impose salary limits as follows:
The cap will apply only to school superintendents and will be applied prospectively as contracts expire. Local communities will have the ability to vote on overriding the salary cap, limited only to specific contracts. These votes will be held during normal school budget votes. Currently, 223, or 33 percent of school district superintendents earn more than $175,000. Most of the highest-earning superintendents are in the Long Island-Westchester counties According to CNN, Carole Hankin, superintendent for the Syosset School District in Long Island, is the highest paid superintendent in NY state with a salary in 2010-11 of $380,000. Syosset has 6,887 students. There is already a salary cap in place for BOCES district superintendents. The BOCES cap sets a single flat salary level ($166,572). Unlike the New Jersey law, the salary is flat regardless of the number of students enrolled in the school. Moreover, New Jersey aligns the salary of the superintendents of the largest school districts with the salary of the Governor of the State of New Jersey, unlike the New York law that ties the value to the 2003-04 salary of the Commissioner of Education. |
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