Ramsey BOE: Superintendent Salary Cap Causing 'Leadership Crisis'

Ramsey school officials last week took a stand against a statewide policy they say has made it difficult for them to find a qualified permanent Superintendent.

At a Board of Education meeting last week, the board passed a resolution denouncing a state law that places a salary cap on public school district Superintendents. According to board members, the cap not only prompted former Superintendent Roy Montesano to leave Ramsey last year for a job in N.Y. – where no such cap exists – but has also made it difficult to find a qualified replacement for him.

“There is an educational leadership crisis in this state,” Interim Superintendent Bruce DeYoung, a retired Ramsey Superintendent who returned to the district for a one-year interim spot last July, said last Wednesday.

According to DeYoung, only 13 hopefuls applied for the job to be Ramsey’s next permanent Superintendent. “We get 90 applications for an elementary teaching position,” he said.

Of those 13 applications, DeYoung said half were not qualified to be called in for interviews. The Board’s Superintendent search committee called in five applicants that it “quickly narrowed down to two,” he said.

Board members commented that schools across the county, and the state, are in a similar situation, dealing with leaving Superintendents and interim replacements.

For a school Ramsey’s size, the state’s cap limits a Superintendent’s annual salary to about $157,000. Previously, officials say the school was paying $225K for its top job.

DeYoung said the cap is an example of the state government “being pennywise and pound foolish.”

The board passed a resolution it will send to Trenton calling for the Governor to revoke the Superintendent cap. The resolution calls for districts to have the ability to “design compensation packages for their Superintendents [in order to] attract the best talent and experience,” to the job.

All but one board member, Richard Muti, voted in favor of the resolution. Though Muti said he agreed with the resolution in theory, he said he felt the cap would level the playing field during Ramsey’s current Superintendent search.

Board members said they were not confident that the resolution would have much of an impact in Trenton.

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