13 LI school chiefs outearn city peers

Thirteen Long Island school superintendents earn more than the heads of public school systems in major U.S. cities such as New York, Boston, Miami and San Diego.

For example, New York City schools Chancellor Cathie Black earns $250,000, overseeing a system with more than 1 million students. Her counterpart in San Diego, a district with 132,000 students, makes the same amount.

Each of those two earns less than at least 28 school superintendents on Long Island - nearly one-quarter of the Island's total - none of whom heads a district with more than 15,000 students.

Superintendents' salaries are under fire again, with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposal earlier this week to cap those in the state's largest districts at $175,000 - which would affect at least 107 Long Island superintendents making more than that now.

Under Cuomo's proposal, superintendents would be paid on a sliding scale based on student enrollment. At the largest school districts - those with more than 6,500 students - salaries would be capped at $175,000 - $4,000 less than the governor's. Some superintendents might not lose their higher salaries because districts would be able to vote to override the salary cap.

Whether the proposal is approved by the state Legislature, some educators defend the salaries as the cost of doing business in an area like Long Island.

"Those school districts on Long Island are among the wealthiest in the country and they are looking to hire the best person they can get," said Daniel A. Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators and a former superintendent in Deer Park and South Huntington. "Some are very competitive with each other and that is why salaries are higher. . . . But there are pockets in the country, and not surprisingly in wealthy areas, where superintendent salaries are the highest and that is determined by the market and wealth of the region."

Cuomo's proposal echoes similar efforts taking place nationwide, from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania - including a superintendent salary cap that took effect last month in New Jersey.

But such limits would have little impact here, some educators and other observers say, because superintendent salaries are a fraction of a district's multimillion-dollar budget.

"Focusing on the superintendents is the wrong first step," said Tim Hoefer, director of The Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative arm of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. "Look at what the biggest costs are and . . . in school districts, it's teachers."

The state teachers' union reserved comment on the proposal.

The superintendent pay cap would save about $15 million statewide, Cuomo said.

"The issue is not an individual superintendent's pay, but the 124 school districts on Long Island, said Larry Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.

"We're paying too many of them," he said.

All told, 319 superintendents statewide would be affected by Cuomo's proposal. Superintendents in districts with 250 or fewer students would earn $125,000.

There is already a salary cap in place for BOCES district superintendents at a single flat salary level of $166,572.

Newsday.com readers sound off on superintendents

"Finally, someone with guts to stand up to the high salaries of administrators in our schools. The drain on the taxpayers is overpowering and needed to be addressed. With so many people out of work, I am sure there would be no problem filling any vacancies."

rgipp

"Kudos to governor Cuomo for his out of the box thinking. The only thing better than the cap (which I still think is too high) would be to combine all Nassau and Suffolk districts into two separate school districts. Then there would only be two superintendents. Think how much money would be saved."

codycat

"I know people are mad, but it is not a good thing to allow the government to cap a salary. If you want the Superintendents to make less, then get your school board to offer less, once the current super's contract expires. All the people that said they would do the job for less money, that's real nice. However, you are not even close to being qualified and never will be. I, personally, would no[t] do the job for 200k. Not worth it."

mikey1126

"There are probably legions of displaced private sector employees who are qualified, or even overqualified, for many school district jobs. Let supply and demand dictate the market for these jobs. Maybe there won't be enough qualified candidates for these jobs, and maybe all the 'talent' already in these jobs will leave (isn't that Wall Street's argument also)? I believe we should call the bluff and take the chance."

JOSEPHM18

"The only thing that will happen if the Governor caps the Superintendents' salaries is that those who are in it to make a difference will fill the jobs, while those who are only in it for the big bucks will leave. Good riddance. . . I'd rather have teachers who care about our children enough to be willing to share the financial burdens of our community than those who would bail on our kids at the first sign of shared sacrifice."

dmg7659

"Yes, Superintendent's make A LOT of money with perks to go along with it. I am all for the salary cap for the very high paying administrative folks. But once again, it will be the kids that get hurt. Always trickles down to them!!!!!"

JMTaggart

"Here is the hidden danger: What kind of exit packages do the Supers have? I think we need to get an investigation rolling into what type of back-room deals these Supers are going to leave with. If they are so willing to leave it's because they stand to make more."

BluePoint