Superintendent loses his raise
After Christie assailed the North Jersey chief's contract as being too expensive, it was canceled.
A New Jersey school superintendent singled out by the governor as "the new poster boy for all that is wrong with the public school system that's being dictated by greed" was denied a raise Monday.
Gov. Christie singled out Parsippany-Troy Hills Superintendent LeRoy Seitz after the school board awarded him a new contract with pay well above the limits Christie's administration put in place, but which don't take effect until Feb. 7.
Christie told a Washington Township town-hall meeting Monday that the Morris County executive schools superintendent was nixing the deal. His announcement got cheers from an audience that lives about 100 miles from Parsippany.
Seitz, the leader of a high-performing district in one of the nation's wealthiest counties, was renegotiating a contract even though his current deal wasn't to expire until next summer - months after the new system is to go into place. He currently makes $212,000. He would get 2 percent raises each year of the five-year contract.
After Christie publicly criticized the deal last week, the school board still approved it.
Neither Seitz nor Kathleen C. Serafino, the Morris County executive school superintendent, immediately returned calls Monday.
County superintendents, who are appointed by the governor, review all district superintendents' contracts.
The new rules say most superintendents should not have base pay of more than the $175,000 that the governor makes, though those in the biggest districts could exceed that amount. Superintendent pay would be capped according to the size of district. Some administrators would be restricted to salaries as low as $125,000.
Superintendents will be able to get performance bonuses of up to 20 percent and can get extra pay if they are appointed to oversee more than one school district. But the majority will get pay cuts starting with their next new contracts.
The cost of schools is a major reason New Jersey has the nation's highest average property-tax bill.
Christie, in his first term as governor, has blamed greedy teachers unions and school administrators for much of the problem.