Johnson Responds to Gov's Proposal for Superintendent Salary Cap

Earlier this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he will propose a bill to cap superintendent salaries across New York State. Under his proposal, Nassau County superintendent salaries would max out at $175,000, depending on how many students are in a district. 

"We must wake up to the new economic reality that government must be more efficient and cut the cost of the bureaucracy," Gov. Cuomo said. "We must streamline government because raising taxes is not an option. Reducing back-office overhead, administration, consultants and encouraging consolidations are the best targets to find savings."

Dr. William Johnson, superintendent of Rockville Centre schools, makes nearly $310,000 a year and is one of the top paid at his position on Long Island. Johnson said Cuomo's proposal is nothing more than a distraction from a much larger issue.

"I think the targeting of superintendents is distracting us from what is the more important discussion, and that is the impact of the $1.5 billion reduction in aid to schools," he said. "A discussion along these lines does not come close to solving the problems related to the calculated impact of the state aid reductions."

Johnson is referring to the $1.5 billion in state aid reductions spread across New York State for the 2011-12 school year.

Asked if he was angry that Cuomo's proposal was targeting superintendents salaries even though their jobs have become more difficult with unfunded state mandates and state aid reductions, Johnson candidly answered the question. "Quite frankly, I don't have time to be angry," he said. "I'm focused on putting together a budget that will make sense for our board and community of taxpayers."

Board of Education President Liz Dion agreed with Johnson, and said she thinks Cuomo's proposal doesn't help school districts at all. "It's great politics," she said. "It makes for great newspaper headlines, but does nothing to help education."

She said that even though Johnson is well paid, he has an enormous job and responsibility, especially when districts are trying to do more with less. "Running schools costs a lot of money," she said. "With decreased state aid, more and more comes from the taxpayers. As the governor takes more money away from us, he looks to blame the superintendents, but that doesn't help us. All it does is shift the argument."

With a $1.2 million state aid reduction for RVC schools, the district is down more than $2 million in revenue heading into the 2011-12 school year.

Cuomo's proposed salary cap could only be applied after existing superintendent contracts expire, however, each individual district would have the voting power to overturn the salary cap during school budget votes.

Currently, more than 33 percent of school superintendents in New York State earn more than $175,000. According to Cuomo's office, this bill has the potential for $15 million in savings.

The cap would impose salary limits as follows:

* Salary data is from the NYS Education Department's Administrative Compensation Information for 2010-2011