Senate Bill S3741

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S3741

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the education law, in relation to the compensation of
district superintendents of schools by boards of cooperative
educational services; and to repeal subparagraph 2 of paragraph a of
subdivision 4 of section 1950 and section 2212-b of such law, relating
thereto


 PURPOSE OF THE BILL :

The purpose of this bill is to enhance the ability of boards of
cooperative educational services (hereinafter BOCES) and the State to
attract and retain qualified individuals to serve as district
superintendents of schools by eliminating the current cap on salaries
and certain benefits, while maintaining limitations on payments for
accrued leave at the time of retirement or other separation from
service.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS OF THE BILL :

Section 1 of the bill amends subparagraph 1 of paragraph a of
subdivision 4 of section 1950 of the Education Law to permit BOCES to
provide for the payment of a supplementary salary and benefits to
              

district superintendents of schools by mutual agreement.

Section 2 of the bill repeals the existing subparagraph 2 of paragraph
a of subdivision 4 of section 1950 of the Education Law relating to
the cap on salary and restrictions on benefits of a district
superintendent of schools and adds a new subparagraph 2 that retains
the existing limitation on the compensation of a district
superintendent at the time of separation from service for accrued and
unused vacation credits or sick leave or personal leave credits, or
the use of accrued and unused sick leave for retirement service credit
or to pay for health insurance in retirement, at a rate in excess of
the rate permitted to managerial/confidential employees of the State
pursuant to regulations of the State Civil Service Commission. New
subparagraph 2 would also authorize the BOCES, by mutual agreement
with the district superintendent, to allow a district superintendent
to accumulate vacation or sick leave credits or personal leave credits
in excess of such credits managerial/confidential employees of the
State are permitted to accumulate. The bill further provides, however,
that the State is not required to pay the cost of any leave accrued in
excess of the rates applicable to managerial/confidential employees of
the State. The bill also clarifies that a BOCES would be authorized to
provide for the payment of all or a portion of the cost of insurance
benefits for the district superintendent of schools, including but not
limited to health insurance during the district superintendent's term
of service or in retirement. Finally, the bill retains the prohibition
in existing law against making an increase in the district
superintendent's salary contingent upon the terms of any contract or
collective bargaining agreement entered into between the BOCES and its
employees.

Section 3 repeals section 2212-b of the Education Law which provides
for the mandatory withholding of excess salaries and benefits paid to
district superintendents, based on violations of the salary cap.

Section 4 of the bill is the effective date.

 STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE BILL :

District superintendents of schools are dual employees, of the State
and of BOCES, who carry out critical functions on behalf of both the
State and the BOCES as educational leaders in the areas served by
BOCES. They are the chief executive officers (CEOs) of their BOCES,
providing innovative direction and leadership for their entire
organizations. They are regional leaders who provide direction and
support to the school districts in their regions and help the State
Education Department implement State policies in their school
districts. The past decade has witnessed a rise in the State
responsibilities of the BOCES superintendents. They oversee the SINI
process, Contract for Excellence enforcement and every other recently
enacted measure to ensure strong student achievement and district
accountability. Strong leadership by district superintendents of
schools is essential to the effective operation of BOCES in delivering
cooperative educational services to their component school districts
and to effective implementation of State accountability requirements
and other State policies, laws and regulations in the school districts
served by BOCES.

District superintendents are the only educational leaders subject to a
salary cap. The result of the cap has been high turnover of district
superintendents: 48 percent of BOCES superintendents have five or
fewer years of experience, 8 district superintendent positions are
currently vacant and another 2 district superintendents have announced
or expect to announce their retirement. BOCES boards of education are
finding it difficult to attract qualified candidates to serve in this
critical educational leadership position, as component districts in
many areas of the state are paying their school superintendents higher
salaries than district superintendents are allowed to receive. In some
BOCES the salaries and benefits of deputy superintendents and other
subordinates of the district superintendent exceed the permissible
salary for a district superintendent. On top of this, a newly hired
district superintendent is not allowed to carry forward accumulated
leave accruals for vacation or sick time, even if he or she was
previously employed by the BOCES. The result is that district
superintendents are expected to work with a capped salary and to start
over with accumulating leave accruals, which leaves the individual
vulnerable in the event of an illness requiring time out of the
office. In this environment, attracting and retaining strong and
qualified leaders to serve in the challenging CEO position of a
district superintendent has become extremely difficult and can be
expected to become more so over time as the disparity between the
capped salary of a district superintendent and the salaries of school
district superintendents grows. Currently, 16 of the 29 districts with
filled superintendent positions are at the salary cap. This number is
expected to increase.

This bill would eliminate the salary cap BOCES must adhere to in
compensating district superintendents, as well as clarify the
authority of BOCES to provide benefits, including insurance benefits,
and eliminate certain benefit restrictions relating to the salary cap
that apply during the district superintendent's term of office. The
bill would allow a district superintendent to accumulate sick leave
and vacation leave credits at a rate higher than
managerial/confidential employees, provided that these leave credits
would not be payable by the State, but the existing restrictions on
compensation of district superintendents for accrued leave upon
separation of service would be retained. This would allow BOCES, at
BOCES expense, to provide additional leave credits to newly hired
district superintendents that go beyond the leave credits available
from the State.

The BOCES superintendent salary cap was first imposed in 1993, then
adjusted in 2003 to allow limited salary increases. Presently,
district superintendents are limited to a total salary, including
amounts paid by the State pursuant to section 2209, of no greater than
98 percent of that earned by the Commissioner of Education for fiscal
year 2003-2004, or $166,762, with annual increases also limited.
Removing the cap would enable local BOCES to hire district
superintendents at competitive salaries commensurate with their job
duties and responsibilities and the local cost of living.

While we believe that the salary cap and related benefit restrictions
should be eliminated, we are cognizant of the concerns that led to the
imposition of a salary cap in Chapter 295 of the Laws of 1993. At that
time, a district Superintendent received excessive payments for
accrued leave at retirement and the State's subsequent attempt to
block the payments in the case  PEOPLE V. MURPHY , 235 A.D.2d 554, 652
N.Y.S.2d754 (2d Dept. 1997) was unsuccessful. Accordingly, rather than
eliminating all the benefit restrictions on district superintendents,
this bill would result in the restrictions on payments for leave
accruals at separation from service that are necessary to prevent the
type of golden parachute that caused the controversy that led to the
 PEOPLE V. MURPHY  case and the imposition of the salary cap in the
first place. This approach addresses the problem in a more targeted
way that would not have the negative impact on recruitment and
retention of district superintendents that the salary cap does.

Since the district superintendent salary cap was imposed, a number of
other measures have been put in place to protect against excessive
salary agreements for district superintendents and to ensure
accountability of BOCES, including:

* Each BOCES must publish an annual report card.

* Each BOCES must publish its administrative budget and the district
superintendent's salary and benefits.

* The State Education Department performs triennial audits of each
BOCES to the extent resources are available.

* The State Education Department's annual Chapter 602 report includes
the annual charges for each service performed by each BOCES.

* Local boards of education must vote annually on their BOCES
administrative budget.

* The term of office for BOCES board members was reduced from five
years to three.

* The Commissioner of Education and each BOCES board personally
reviews the performance of the district superintendents each year.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

None. This is a new bill.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act would take effect immediately.