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Christie Aims to Limit NJ School Superintendents' Pay

New Jersey governor Chris Christie is expanding the so-called "toolkit" of reforms that municipalities can use to keep their budgets within the two-percent annual cap on property tax increases.

KYW's David Madden reports that this one deals with what school superintendents are paid:

The average superintendent's salary in districts with more than 1,000 students is just over $192,000 per  year, and trends show those numbers going up at more than twice the rate of inflation.

So Christie's plan would cap those salaries on a sliding scale from $120,000 to $175,000, based on population, effective as individual contracts come up for renewal.

New Jersey education commissioner Bret Schundler says administrative salaries run the gamut:

"The superintendents who are getting paid beyond all reason may not like this policy, but the others will see it as bringing some sense to a system that's very chaotic."

Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, believes the move is based more on politics than need:

"There's clear evidence New Jersey's administrative costs are ninth lowest in the nation, according to the federal data, so we're apparently attempting to solve a problem that doesn't exist."

The association  predicts the change will cause many good superintendents to work elsewhere.

Schundler plans public hearings in September and intends to issue a new policy by year's end that would place the cap into effect by administrative order.

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