Authorizes boards of cooperative educational services to provide, by mutual agreement, for the payment of supplemental salary and benefits to district superintendent

Section 2 of the bill repeals the existing subparagraph 2 of paragraph a of subdivision 4 of section 1950 of the Education Law relating to the cap on salary and restrictions on benefits of a district superintendent of schools and adds a new subparagraph 2 that retains the existing limitation on the compensation of a district superintendent at the time of separation from service for accrued and unused vacation credits or sick leave or personal leave credits, or the use of accrued and unused sick leave for retirement service credit or to pay for health insurance in retirement, at a rate in excess of the rate permitted to managerial/confidential employees of the State pursuant to regulations of the State Civil Service Commission. New subparagraph 2 would also authorize the BOCES, by mutual agreement with the district superintendent, to allow a district superintendent to accumulate vacation or sick leave credits or personal leave credits in excess of such credits managerial/confidential employees of the State are permitted to accumulate. The bill further provides, however, that the State is not required to pay the cost of any leave accrued in excess of the rates applicable to managerial/confidential employees of the State. The bill also clarifies that a BOCES would be authorized to provide for the payment of all or a portion of the cost of insurance benefits for the district superintendent of schools, including but not limited to health insurance during the district superintendent's term of service or in retirement. Finally, the bill retains the prohibition in existing law against making an increase in the district superintendent's salary contingent upon the terms of any contract or collective bargaining agreement entered into between the BOCES and its employees.

Section 3 repeals section 2212-b of the Education Law which provides for the mandatory withholding of excess salaries and benefits paid to district superintendents, based on violations of the salary cap.

Section 4 of the bill is the effective date.

Statement in support of the bill

District superintendents of schools are dual employees, of the State and of BOCES, who carry out critical functions on behalf of both the State and the BOCES as educational leaders in the areas served by BOCES. They are the chief executive officers (CEOs) of their BOCES, providing innovative direction and leadership for their entire organizations. They are regional leaders who provide direction and support to the school districts in their regions and help the State Education Department implement State policies in their school districts. The past decade has witnessed a rise in the State responsibilities of the BOCES superintendents. They oversee the SINI process, Contract for Excellence enforcement and every other recently enacted measure to ensure strong student achievement and district accountability. Strong leadership by district superintendents of schools is essential to the effective operation of BOCES in delivering cooperative educational services to their component school districts and to effective implementation of State accountability requirements and other State policies, laws and regulations in the school districts served by BOCES.

District superintendents are the only educational leaders subject to a salary cap. The result of the cap has been high turnover of district superintendents: 48 percent of BOCES superintendents have five or fewer years of experience, 8 district superintendent positions are currently vacant and another 2 district superintendents have announced or expect to announce their retirement. BOCES boards of education are finding it difficult to attract qualified candidates to serve in this critical educational leadership position, as component districts in many areas of the state are paying their school superintendents higher salaries than district superintendents are allowed to receive. In some BOCES the salaries and benefits of deputy superintendents and other subordinates of the district superintendent exceed the permissible salary for a district superintendent. On top of this, a newly hired district superintendent is not allowed to carry forward accumulated leave accruals for vacation or sick time, even if he or she was previously employed by the BOCES. The result is that district superintendents are expected to work with a capped salary and to start over with accumulating leave accruals, which leaves the individual vulnerable in the event of an illness requiring time out of the office. In this environment, attracting and retaining strong and qualified leaders to serve in the challenging CEO position of a district superintendent has become extremely difficult and can be expected to become more so over time as the disparity between the capped salary of a district superintendent and the salaries of school district superintendents grows. Currently, 16 of the 29 districts with filled superintendent positions are at the salary cap. This number is expected to increase.

This bill would eliminate the salary cap BOCES must adhere to in compensating district superintendents, as well as clarify the authority of BOCES to provide benefits, including insurance benefits, and eliminate certain benefit restrictions relating to the salary cap that apply during the district superintendent's term of office. The bill would allow a district superintendent to accumulate sick leave and vacation leave credits at a rate higher than managerial/confidential employees, provided that these leave credits would not be payable by the State, but the existing restrictions on compensation of district superintendents for accrued leave upon separation of service would be retained. This would allow BOCES, at BOCES expense, to provide additional leave credits to newly hired district superintendents that go beyond the leave credits available from the State.

The BOCES superintendent salary cap was first imposed in 1993, then adjusted in 2003 to allow limited salary increases. Presently, district superintendents are limited to a total salary, including amounts paid by the State pursuant to section 2209, of no greater than 98 percent of that earned by the Commissioner of Education for fiscal year 2003-2004, or $166,762, with annual increases also limited. Removing the cap would enable local BOCES to hire district superintendents at competitive salaries commensurate with their job duties and responsibilities and the local cost of living.

While we believe that the salary cap and related benefit restrictions should be eliminated, we are cognizant of the concerns that led to the imposition of a salary cap in Chapter 295 of the Laws of 1993. At that time, a district Superintendent received excessive payments for accrued leave at retirement and the State's subsequent attempt to block the payments in the case PEOPLE V. MURPHY , 235 A.D.2d 554, 652 N.Y.S.2d754 (2d Dept. 1997) was unsuccessful. Accordingly, rather than eliminating all the benefit restrictions on district superintendents, this bill would result in the restrictions on payments for leave accruals at separation from service that are necessary to prevent the type of golden parachute that caused the controversy that led to the PEOPLE V. MURPHY case and the imposition of the salary cap in the first place. This approach addresses the problem in a more targeted way that would not have the negative impact on recruitment and retention of district superintendents that the salary cap does.

Since the district superintendent salary cap was imposed, a number of other measures have been put in place to protect against excessive salary agreements for district superintendents and to ensure accountability of BOCES, including:

* Each BOCES must publish an annual report card.

* Each BOCES must publish its administrative budget and the district superintendent's salary and benefits.

* The State Education Department performs triennial audits of each BOCES to the extent resources are available.

* The State Education Department's annual Chapter 602 report includes the annual charges for each service performed by each BOCES.

* Local boards of education must vote annually on their BOCES administrative budget.

* The term of office for BOCES board members was reduced from five years to three.

* The Commissioner of Education and each BOCES board personally reviews the performance of the district superintendents each year.

Prior legislative history

None. This is a new bill.

Effective date

This act would take effect immediately.