Cuomo Looks to Cap School Superintendent Salaries

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is looking to cap school superintendent salaries at $175,000.If approved, the cap would enable the state to save $15 million. Currently 33 percent of superintendents earn more than $175,000 in New York State.

Cuomo's call to cap superintendent pay comes as the Port Washington School Board works on the 2011-12 budget.

Superintendent Dr. Geoffrey Gordon’s compensation package was $297,644 in the 2009-10 school year, according to the Empire Center for New York State Policy.

Gordon, who took a salary freeze last year, said that he has “offered to take a second freeze this coming year to help maintain program for students and save jobs for staff to deliver those programs.”

In addition, Gordon is voluntarily serving as the district’s public relations director, which he says saves the district $40,000 per year.

According to “The School Superintendent Labor Market in New York: Understanding Important Trends,” a 2008 report published The Council of School Superintendents, the mean salary for superintendents in downstate New York increased from $164,436 in 2002-02 to $211,559 in 2007-08.

Driving salaries up is the law of supply and demand, with fewer applicants to fill the positions of an increasing number of simultaneous retirements, the report said. 

Currently the district is negotiating with administrator, custodian and maintenance, secretarial and teacher associations to achieve educational and fiscal balance. Paraprofessionals took a salary freeze, and will receive a 1 percent raise the following year. 

Financial pressures on the district include escalating pension and compensation costs and loss of federal and state funding which the district must now fund.

The next budget work session will be March 8, at at 8 p.m.