New Jersey School Boards Association
P.O. Box 909 · Trenton, NJ 08605-0909 ● www.njsba.org
New Jersey Association of School Administrators
920 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08618-5328 ● www.njasa.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Frank Belluscio, NJSBA (fbelluscio@njsba.org)
(609) 278-5202
Anne Gallagher, NJASA (agallagher@njasa.net)
(609) 599-2900, Ext. 126
Education Organizations Develop Model Superintendent Contract
Focus on Accountability, Fiscal Responsibility, Educational Goals
TRENTON, May 14, 2009—The statewide organizations representing local boards of education and school administrators today released a model contract to guide their members in negotiating employment provisions for superintendents.
“The goal of local boards of education is to attract and retain effective chief school administrators while preserving the community’s financial interests,” said Marie S. Bilik, New Jersey School Boards Association executive director. “The model contract will enable school boards to develop a compensation package that is reasonable for the community and is consistent with current state requirements.”
The new model would cap payment for unused sick and vacation time, tie salary increases to the achievement of educational goals, and require that the school board president certify that the contract has been reviewed by the board attorney. In addition, it would limit payment at retirement to a certain amount of compensation for unused sick and vacation time.
“We support full compliance with the law, consistent guidelines and complete public disclosure of contracts for all school district employees,” explained Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators. “State law and regulation are not the only solutions, however. At the local level, both school boards and superintendents have an obligation to develop fair, fiscally responsible agreements.”
Both organizations have expanded training in superintendent contract development over the past year. In 2008, for example, NJSBA added a component on superintendent contract development to the state-required training programs that school board members take each year. The Association also began offering superintendent contract negotiations training to boards as part of its superintendent search service.
Recent statute requires state education officials—specifically, the state’s executive county superintendents—to review all school administrator contracts using guidelines published by the state Department of Education. In addition, state legislators have proposed several bills that would affect school superintendent contracts, including one that would require the state Department of Education to develop a statewide model.
“The NJSBA/NJASA model contract complies with current law and regulation and will help school districts meet the goal of financially and educationally sound agreements,” said Bilik. “We have offered the commissioner of education our model agreement for use as a state-endorsed template.”
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The New Jersey School Boards Association, a federation of district boards of education, advocates the interests of school districts, trains local school board members, and provides resources for the advancement of public education.
The mission of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, the unifying professional association of school leaders, is to ensure a superior statewide system of education by influencing and effecting educational policy, regulations and legislation; and by maximizing the capacity and effectiveness of school leaders through professional development programs and support services.