Acting Commissioner of Education Rochelle R. Hendricks recently directed all Executive County Superintendents to conduct a comprehensive review of all superintendent contracts (see PDF's below). Until such a review is completed, no contracts or contract extensions will be approved, and no contracts that expire after February 7, 2011, when proposed pay cap regulations will take effect, will be authorized unless they comply with the proposed regulations.This information is timely as the Hoboken Board of Education has recently announced that there will be a Special Meeting at 7PM on Tuesday, November 23rd. The agenda item is the appointment of a Superintendent of Schools. Recall, the current Kids First Board of Education has been looking for a permanent Superintendent of Schools since July of 2009.
Since all Superintendent contracts must be approved by the County Superintendent- it will be necessary the County Superintendent to make sure that the Hoboken Board of Education complies with Governor Christie and Acting Commissioner Hendricks' recommendation for contract ceilings.
There is a pending legal battle/interpretation to all this as you cannot change current regulations via a memo, even if it is by a Governor. A number of legal and political battles are developing around New Jersey over the issue. It will be interesting to see if Hoboken joins in the challenge to the limit or complies. My sense is Hoboken will need to offer more than the $155,000 limit to retain a permanent Superintendent. This will put the Hudson County Executive Superintendent in a squeeze between the State of New Jersey and the Hoboken School District. Should be interesting to see how it develops this week.
Under Governor Christie’s plan, salaries would range from $120,000 for a K-8 district with fewer than 250 students to $175,000 for a superintendent in a district with as many as 10,000 students. Some allowances are available for merit. The ceiling in Hoboken based on Christie's guidelines would be no more than $155,000.
