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This Monday the NJ Senate is to vote on Senate Bill No. 1987 Ruiz/Sarlo. This bill repeals the Superintendent Salary Cap by prohibiting the Department of Education from regulating the maximum salary amount a school district may pay its superintendent of schools.
GSCS supports this bill and testified in favor of it before the Senate Education Committee this legislative year. We ask you to contact your state senators and urge them to vote for S1987.
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GSCS Testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, February 9 2015: S1987 Prohibits the DOE from regulating the maximum salary amount a school district may pay its superintendent of schools
GSCS supports S1987
GSCS thanks Senator Sarlo for posting S1987 for a hearing and Senator Ruiz for sponsoring S1987.
Accountability appropriately remains at the local level via local decision-making. It is the local school board’s responsibility to hire the superintendent of its schools. The local district is best equipped to determine the needs of its schools and to calculate the local school budget’s ability to compensate its superintendent of schools.
Education leadership in New Jersey is being negatively impacted by the imposition of superintendent salary caps, which were put in place in 2009. Since the cap on superintendent salaries were initiated, New Jersey superintendent ranks have dwindled and a drain on leadership pool has grown with each year the cap has been in place.
Since it has been 5 years that salary caps have been mandated, a salary ‘reset’ has occurred. It is more than time to move ahead in a positive direction and, by passing S1987, acknowledge the need for effective continuity of the position of chief school administrator to promote high quality education.