Report: LI educators top compensation list
From left, Carole Hankin, Syosset superintendent; Anthony Bonasera, Mount Sinai superintendent; and Evelyn Holman, of Bay Shore superintendent, are among the top-earning school administrators on Long Island, according to the Empire Center for New York State Policy. Credit: Newsday file photo, Robert Grable and Patrick Oehler
Long Island schools pay employees more on average than those in any other region of New York, and the state's 10 top-paid administrators were in school districts here -- each making more than $350,000, an Albany think tank reported yesterday.
Total compensation for the Island's school workers in 2010-11 averaged $73,417 -- higher than the average of $71,761 paid in the second-ranked mid-Hudson region, which includes affluent Westchester County, the Empire Center for New York State Policy said.
The statewide average was $54,792, and included all nine regions outside New York City. The city, which has its own retirement system for educators, was not included in the study.
Hankin leads list
The report finds that the Island's schools employed 58 of the 100 highest-compensated school administrators in the state. Carole Hankin, Syosset's superintendent, topped the list with $506,382 in salary and benefits.
Moreover, 26 of the 50 highest-paying districts are on the Island, led by Jericho with a reported average compensation of $103,790.
This marks the first year that the Empire Center has compared the Island with other regions in terms of school remuneration, and the third year that the think tank ranked individual administrators and other employees.
The comparisons are certain to generate debate, as they have in the past, both at local school board meetings and in Albany, where political leaders will tackle the thorny issue of financial aid to schools.
"The reason we keep doing this is that we think it's important that taxpayers have access to this, and know where their money is going," said Tim Hoefer, the Empire Center's director.
The nonprofit center is the state arm of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and is a leading voice for limited government and private enterprise.
Pay, compensation noted
The annual report covers compensation of school superintendents, teachers and other professionals, as well as nonprofessional workers, and includes both salaries and other compensation such as payouts to those who retired at the end of the last school year.
Data were provided by the state's two employee retirement systems.
Local school officials contend that the Island's pay levels reflect both high living costs and parents' demands for well-qualified teachers and administrators.
Those officials add that many school employees recently have agreed to salary concessions. Syosset employees, for example, took partial or full pay freezes this year.
"With the high cost of living in Nassau County, schools have historically supported a salary schedule that is attractive enough to hire the best and brightest," said Henry Grishman, superintendent of Jericho schools and a past president of the State Council of School Superintendents.
"Obviously, the economic downturn of the last two or three years has prompted all of us to take another look at total compensation and work closely with our employee groups to modify current agreements."
Some concessions made
Jericho teachers this year agreed to give up a 3.5 percent pay raise and make higher health-insurance contributions while retaining annual "step" increases built into their salary schedule.
Anthony Bonasera, the Mount Sinai schools chief, said his listed $407,090 package included about $150,000 in delayed compensation for unused sick and vacation days accumulated over more than 28 years in the district.
He added that two administrative jobs were folded into one when he took the superintendent's post three years ago, and that the work includes attendance at numerous night meetings and weekend events not part of the average worker's schedule.
"I wouldn't mind the notoriety, if people in the community knew what goes into the job," Bonasera said.
Reasoning is questioned
Taxpayer representatives scoff at suggestions that higher salaries produce better academic results, noting that test scores often vary widely in districts with comparable pay levels.
"Now why, if all these administrators and teachers have roughly the same educations, the same number of college credits, doesn't this have the same effect on all school districts?" said Fred Gorman of Nesconset, a founder of Long Islanders for Educational Reform, a regional taxpayer group.
"They keep asking for more money, and parents keep giving them what they want. And people are bleeding because of the economic stress they're under."
