Sunday Leftovers
November 17, 2013WSJ Gets it Wrong on Women, Minorities, and Ed Reform
November 19, 2013You Know that New Jersey Exodus Of Superintendent Running from the Salary Cap?
According to today’s NJ Spotlight, the disapora isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, although New Jersey School Board Assocation’s conclusions are based, as yet, on incomplete data and, anyway, it may be too soon to judge the full impact. However, while there’s been a “common assumption that superintendents are leaving the state in droves,”
In fact, fewer school leaders have left their jobs since the caps were enacted than in earlier years… while the anecdotal evidence tells of respected education leaders making an exodus from New Jersey schools, the association’s data has so far found actually a smaller turnover of superintendents since the regulations were put in place by former state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, Christie’s first commissioner.
1 Comment
You're really on a roll, Laura.
What you and NJ Spotlight fail to grasp is that current job turnover of ~25% is a disaster in the context of leadership continuity for school districts. The average tenure of a super in-district is now just over two years—less than the term (three years) of the shortest contract allowed under state law.
As noted in the NJS story, the comparable period was one of extraordinary movement owing to retirement inducements, hardly an appropriate standard. Also, newly-allowed Merit Goal bonuses (not mentioned by you or NJS)of up to 15% of a super's base salary were instituted last year to mitigate the impact of the cap.
They have a potentially detrimental effect by deflecting a super's attention from his/her core responsibilities.
In sum, the cap is what you'd expect from our 'free-market' Governor.