David Campbell Photo Credit: Susan Bastnagel
From the CCGOP Chairman's Blog:
We need a constitutional cap on spending to control property taxes. Need Proof? Look at what we pay our public school administrators in New Jersey.
Last week the Courier Post ran a story on the ballooning pay of school administrators. A mere five years ago there were 12 school administrators who made in excess of $200,000. Now we have 91 administrators who collect in excess of $200,000.
As of October, 91 administrators were in the $200,000 club — all higher than the governor’s salary of $175,000. The number is up from 12 administrators five years ago.
Those who follow our blog know that Superintendent David Campbell collects in excess of a quarter of a million in salary from the tax payers in Cherry Hill. At more than $277,000 per year we should have known he is the most richly compensated administrator in New Jersey.
The highest paid public school official in the state last year was Cherry Hill Superintendent David Campbell at $277,392. He oversees 12,500 students.
The true tragedy is not that Campbell makes an obscene salary but the number of his colleagues that collect salaries in excess of $200,000.
The number of New Jersey public school administrators paid $200,000 or more increased nearly eightfold in the past five years, according to new payroll numbers released by the state Department of Education.
This eightfold increase occurred despite our current economic downfall. If we had a 2.5% contitutional cap on spending would we have seen the meteoric rise in administrator salaries? The obvious answer is a resounding NO. Not surprisingly, representatives from the New Jersey Principal and Supervisors Association, and the New Jersey Association of School Administrators did not comment for the Courier post story.
Governor Chris Christie and Assemblyman Domenick DiCicco are supporting this constitutional amendment for all the right reasons. CAP 2.5 is constitutional guaranteed tax pay protection against abuse. If we are going to pay public school administrators outrageous salaries the voters need to approve those salaries. That is exactly what CAP 2.5 does; spending increases are limited to 2.5 % without voter approval.
1 comment:
What New Jersey (and maybe other states) need is a constitutional limit on administrator salaries. Simply capping property taxes alone won't do it. These administrators won't cut their own salaries. They'll take the money out of maintenance and equipment for school buildings, after school programs that (especially in inner city schools) keep kids out of trouble and other stuff.
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