The Daily Record Edition of December 21, 2010 published this article by Rob Jennings worth considering:
Gov. Chris Christie wouldn't last a
month as a school superintendent, a New Jersey
Association of School Administrators official jibed
Monday in charging that Christie's proposed salary
cap is both bad policy and a violation of state law.
In a meeting with the Daily Record editorial board,
NJASA Executive Director Richard Bozza - a former
Montville schools superintendent - said the
proposed cap would lead to massive turnover and
discourage prospective administrators from seeking
the top jobs.
Bozza said the state Legislature, not the Department
of Education, is responsible for setting salaries. He
accused Christie of not adequately considering the
potential ramifications on educational leadership,
arguing that top performers would be recruited by
districts in other states.
Referring to Christie's argument that no
superintendent has a tougher job than the governor
and therefore should not make more than his
$175,000 annual salary, Bozza countered that
Christie couldn't hack it as a local schools chief in
even the smallest of districts.
"If any superintendent acted the way he did, he
wouldn't last a month on the job," Bozza said when
asked about Christie's condemnation Nov. 9 of
Parsippany Superintendent Lee Seitz as a "poster
boy" for greed.
"No superintendent could get up in his or her
community and point fingers at people and degrade
them and still be kept by their school board,
because they expect more professional behavior,"
Bozza said of Christie, who has also criticized
Chatham Superintendent James O'Neill for similarly
seeking a contract extension beyond his proposed
cap.
Bozza's association filed an amicus brief last month
supporting the Parsippany school board's appeal to
the state Appellate Division seeking court-ordered
approval of Seitz' disputed contract extension,
which would bring his annual salary to $234,065
by the 2014/15 school year.
Christie's spokesman, Michael Drewniak, reacted
that Bozza's perspective is jaded by his position.
"His self-interest in on full display in his
comments," Drewniak said. "We are happy to be
defending the public and New Jersey taxpayers in
court, if that's what it takes, on this."
Bozza declined to say Monday whether his group
would eventually file a lawsuit challenging the
proposed caps, which would not take effect until
Feb. 7 and range from $125,000 in small districts to
$175,000 in large districts.
Acting Education Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks,
in the wake of the Seitz controversy, has ordered all
districts not to renegotiate any contracts expiring
after Feb. 7 unless the new terms complied with the
caps.
"It's not just a cap. It's a salary cut for 70 percent of
the people if they continue their employment," Bozza
said.
Bozza took issue with Christie's accusation that
school boards, such as Parsippany, renegotiating
ahead of the effective date are circumventing the
cap.
"There is nothing wrong or illegal about what
school boards are doing," he said.
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