Superintendents sue education commissioner Administrators association challenges new state rules on contracts and compensation Friday, August 15, 2008 BY JOHN MOONEY Star-Ledger Staff Adding fuel to the debate over school costs, the group representing New Jersey's superintendents filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the state education commissioner, claiming new limits on administrators' pay are arbitrary and unconstitutional. The suit comes one day after the state released information about compensation for more than 3,000 administrators, including millions of dollars in stipends, benefits and other pay beyond their published salaries. But the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Trenton, challenges new regulations enacted by Education Commissioner Lucille Davy last month that give the state the power to review and even reject the contracts of superintendents, assistant superintendents and business administrators. The suit contends the new rules violate the administrators' rights to due process and single them out over other public employees. "The government can't create arbitrary classes, and to regulate the salaries of 1,400 administrators and not 200,000 other school employees doesn't make a lot of sense," said Stephen Edelstein, lawyer for the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and four individuals named as plaintiffs. "She (Davy) is trying to treat school district employees as state employees, and they are not. There is a strong home rule tradition in this state," he said. The lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of new regulations, Edelstein said. Efforts to reach Davy last night were unsuccessful. A spokesman for Gov. Jon Corzine said he stands by Davy's effort to toughen standards on administrative pay. "Governor Corzine commends Commissioner Davy's efforts to provide strong oversight to the contracts negotiated by local school boards," said the spokesman, Robert Corrales. "The contracts negotiated should be readily accessible to the public to ensure that every dollar goes towards the education of our children." Davy enacted the new regulations unilaterally and without the usual review and approval of the state Board of Education. Caps were placed on sick time and other provisions that can inflate pay by tens of thousands of dollars. The new rules come at a time of public and political outcry over high compensation packages local school boards approved for administrators, including a retirement deal for more than $740,000 to outgoing Keansburg Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski. The regulations also give state officials the power to reject provisions in new contracts that call for "excessive" pay and retirement benefits, like those approved for Trzeszkowski. Existing contracts would not fall under the new rules. The 30-page complaint filed by the administrators association claims the new rules represent an unconstitutional "taking of property" from the administrators, potentially reducing their compensation without due process of law. It also says the rules against "excessive" pay or those that are not found to be "reasonable" fail to define what those terms mean. "Portions of the new regulations are so vague as to be void and unenforceable," said Richard Bozza, the association's director. Also named as plaintiffs in the case are Old Bridge superintendent Simon Bosco, Lyndhurst superintendent Joseph Abate Jr., Hopewell Township superintendent Terry Van Zoeren and Black Horse Pike assistant superintendent John Golden. John Mooney may be reached at jmooney@starledger.com, or (973) 392-1548. --------------------------- Defends his degree from diploma mill Wednesday, August 20, 2008 By CHARLES HACK JOURNAL STAFF WRITER WEEHAWKEN - A public school administrator who received his Ph.D. from a discredited diploma mill is not ready to drop his doctor's title. Weehawken curriculum director, Joseph Little, who paid Washington-based Saint Regis University $1,281 to complete his Ph.D., said yesterday his doctorate is legitimate since the college, to the best of his knowledge, was accredited when he attained his doctorate in 2002. The U.S. Department of Justice closed down Saint Regis in 2005 after a four-year federal investigation found the college was selling degrees online. College officials pleaded guilty early this year to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, but claimed they issued degrees to students based on life experience. Employed by the Weehawken school district for more than 20 years, Little, 63, earns $129,000 a year, including a $1,000 a year stipend for having a doctorate, school officials said. Little said yesterday he earned two master's degrees in the 1970s from William Paterson College in teaching and administration and is certified as a teacher, principal and administrator. He defended his Ph.D. degree, saying he submitted his doctoral dissertation to Saint Regis University after doing seven years of course work at Rutgers University. Little said he switched from Rutgers to Saint Regis after a dissertation advisor at Rutgers insisted he had to redo his work. Saint Regis was the only university that would accept most of his credits and consider his completed dissertation, which included time-sensitive research data, he said. He said his dissertation is now archived in the Library of Congress. Weehawken Superintendent of Schools Kevin McLellan said Little's position and salary are not in jeopardy since his job title depends on other qualifications. "Joseph Little has been an employee with the district for over 20 years and his performance during that time has been impeccable," McLellan said. McLellan said Little might also keep the $1,000 a year extra he earns for having a PhD. This would depend on whether the college was operating legitimately when Little obtained his degree, McLellan said. ---------------------- Many superintendents are due six-figure retirement deals by John Mooney /The Star-Ledger Wednesday August 13, 2008, 9:00 PM More than 30 New Jersey school administrators could be due six-figure retirement packages at a time the state is trying to rein in administrative costs, according to data the state released Wednesday. By far the highest is a previously disclosed $740,876 retirement deal for recently retired Keansburg Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski, the package that initiated new state rules targeting "excessive" payments for sick-day buybacks and other compensation. But the state's first statewide accounting of all such compensation indicates numerous high-priced administrator deals were already in place last year and, therefore, will not be covered by the new regulations. For instance, among those reported to be entitled to more than $100,000 upon retirement were Wall Township Superintendent James Habel ($221,242), Somerset Hills Superintendent Peter Miller ($217,396) and even a business administrator, Guttenberg's Jolene Mantineo ($258,802), according to the state's data covering the 2007-08 school year. Robert Aloia, Bergen County Vocational and Technical Schools' superintendent, would see a $190,000 retirement deal, according to the state, and is also entitled to $61,000 in annual buybacks of sick and vacation time. That's on top of a $231,000 base salary. "There are definitely some benefits or compensation that wouldn't conform with the new regulations," state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said. "They confirm what we have been saying." But questions immediately surfaced as to the validity of some of the state's numbers, a repeat of last summer when the state released the data for the first time but was forced to pull it back after errors were discovered. For instance, the state's own monitor in the Paterson schools, Mark Kramer, was initially listed for a $178,750 retirement package on top of his $165,000 yearly salary. But state officials said the figure is incorrect and Kramer is not entitled to any retirement package. Officials conceded the data may include other errors as well, stressing the figures are all self-reported by the districts, and a review of the figures was ongoing. "This is the first time we have done this and don't expect it will be 100 percent perfect," said Kathryn Forsyth, communications director of the state Department of Education. The details arrive in New Jersey's first statewide release of administrative pay and perks in each district in 2007-08, as well as district spending and revenue for 2008-09. "Citizens have a great deal of interest in knowing how their education tax dollars are being spent, and this new resource gives them a way to access that information quickly and easily," said Davy in releasing the information. The full data set can be found online at www.state.nj.us/education/finance/fp/ufb/. The administrative pay is sure to draw the most attention, as Gov. Jon Corzine and the Legislature have pressed hard for districts to curb administrative spending in a bid to control rising property taxes. The Legislature this year enacted several regulations that capped sick and vacation time buybacks and prohibited separate severance packages. Lawmakers also gave the state power to review administrator contracts. For most of the 3,500 administrators listed, this shouldn't be an issue. According to the state's latest data, a vast majority would see retirement payments well below the caps, if any at all. The average was slightly over $10,000, on top of a typical salary of about $108,000. State associations representing administrators and school boards said they support state efforts to make school finance information more accessible to the public. But they stressed administrative costs represent only about 10 percent of overall school spending, one of the lowest percentages in the nation. "The pay has been really dictated by the market," said Mike Yaple, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association. "It's not much different than that of other states in the region." Richard Bozza, director of the state's school administrators' association, said the state should apply the same rules to other government rolls and recommended "all categories of New Jersey public employees follow the example established for school administrators and be required to immediately release their respective data." ----------------------- Schools chief faces questions from state Shore superintendent's business deals scrutinized Monday, July 28, 2008 BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL Star-Ledger Staff In nearly four decades since he arrived at Long Branch public schools, Superintendent Joseph Ferraina has become one of the most effective, outspoken and best-paid school administrators in New Jersey. Now, State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy has raised questions about a series of business dealings between Ferraina and both district employees and a prominent school board member, citing possible ethics violations. Ferraina, for example, has owned three thoroughbreds in partnership with a Long Branch high school teacher and a retired school principal Ferraina had hired. He bought his home, a block and a half off the ocean, from the parents of Rose Widdis, a prominent school board member who signed three lucrative additions to Ferraina's school contract, which is now worth more than $300,000 a year. He outfitted the home with tile from a store Widdis' family ran, and used a school plumber and contractors who have been hired by the school district. Ferraina, 58, who has been superintendent for 14 years, said he has done nothing wrong. After 38 years in the tight-knit city, he said, it is inevitable for his public and private jobs to overlap. "I know almost everybody," he said. "I could not go into anything with someone I don't know." But last week Davy asked the Education Department's Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance to review a series of transactions to determine if they should be referred to the School Ethics Commission, the state entity that enforces conflict of interest statutes. "In this case, it appears to me there could potentially be some ethical issues raised," she said. Widdis said she had no role in Ferraina's transactions with her family, and said she had never acted improperly on the board. "I never voted on anything that would have caused a conflict for me," said Widdis, adding she had "absolutely not" made money from the sale of her parents' home to Ferraina. Ferraina denied his private transactions posed any conflict, saying he does not "directly supervise" any of the school employees he has dealt with privately, and adding he paid full price for the home and for any work school contractors have done for him. State ethics regulations prohibit school officials from using their positions to "secure unwarranted privileges, advantages or employment" for themselves or family members, but do not explicitly bar administrators and board officers from doing work with employees or others they supervise. The state's Code of Ethics for school board members prohibits using schools "for personal gain or for the gain of friends." Kevin Garifine, a plumber who earns $55,000 as a Long Branch school employee, said his work on Ferraina's home was done after school hours and that he charged Ferraina his standard rate. But Davy said the arrangement needed a closer look. "There are questions," she said. "Do they really work off school time? Did anything else go on that could be in that unethical cone?" Told of Davy's review, Ferraina had little comment. "She's the commissioner," he said. "Whatever she wants, I have no problem." The review ordered by Davy comes at a time of increasing tension between the state and local administrators. This spring, Davy, Gov. Jon Corzine and many Trenton lawmakers expressed outrage at the $740,000 retirement package for the long-time superintendent in Keansburg, which like Long Branch is one of the state's poorest and, thus, heavily subsidized by the state. The payout to the Keansburg official has been suspended pending a court challenge and renegotiation, and legislation to cut such perks is pending. Ferraina's contract will pay him $233,000 this year with another $75,000 in benefits. Those benefits include $40,000 in sick day and vacation day credits, a $11,678 annuity contribution, and a $9,000 car allowance. Widdis defended Ferraina's contract. "He's a very, very hard worker," she said. "He works very hard for the district. He's very dedicated." As for his dabbling in horse ownership -- one, Sheer Silk, placed third Friday in a race at Monmouth Park in neighboring Oceanport -- Ferraina said it started two years ago at the invitation of a friend. Since 2006, Ferraina and partners have bought three horses -- the others are Zephyr Cat and Cuban Larry -- each claimed for between $6,000 and $7,500. Ferraina said he covered most of the partnership's training expenses. "I've been working all my life; I've been saving money since I was 19 years old," said Ferraina. "I can afford to spend a few dollars here and there and not have a problem with it." ---------------------- Brouhaha over union president's biography by John Mooney/The Star-Ledger Sunday July 27, 2008, 8:35 AM The president of the state's predominant teachers union has been caught in an embarrassing flap, conceding her posted biography had included a couple of credentials that are not hers. Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerNJEA President Joyce Powell Joyce Powell, in her third year leading the 200,000-member New Jersey Education Association, has said she failed to catch the errors in her biography that included being a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Glassboro State College, now Rowan University. She graduated from Glassboro, but without the prestigious academic honor. She also was incorrectly listed as being a Rutgers fellow, when she was only a teaching associate. "I'll admit I never read it, and the wrong thing was put down," she said yesterday. "It was a mistake, absolutely a mistake." The errors were first reported in the Record of Bergen County yesterday, and she said they were removed from the NJEA's website after the newspaper's reporter questioned them. A close ally of Gov. Jon Corzine, Powell has led the union during a period when the NJEA has been in battle with the Legislature over pension and other reforms. Before becoming an officer of the union, she was a special education teacher in Vineland. Corzine's office yesterday voiced support for Powell. "Governor Corzine knows Joyce to be an honest and tireless advocate for the teachers of New Jersey," said spokesman Sean Darcy. "If she says it was a mistake, we take her at her word." NJEA spokesman Steve Baker said the union's communications staff typically writes the biographies after speaking with the officers, but he said he did not know what might have happened with Powell's. Powell said she was a member of a different honor society, Kappa Delta Pi, that may have led to confusion on that item. How much effect the admission will have on Powell's leadership and on her powerful union is unclear. Powell said she only heard words of support yesterday. One adversary jumped on the revelation yesterday. "It's another tragic instance of them not being straight with us," said Derrell Bradford, deputy director of Excellent Education for Everybody, a pro-voucher group that has often sparred with the NJEA. "I think people have a right to have trust in their public institutions and the people who run them." -------------------------------- Plentiful pay, perks on public dime School superintendents enjoy use of vehicles, gas, big retirement payments, but rules are tightening By Jean Mikle . and Jim McConville . STAFF WRITERS . July 20, 2008 Imagine a job in which you're making nearly $200,000 - and that's just the start. Your employer throws in free health insurance for life, a high-end sport-utility vehicle with free gasoline for your personal use, and thousands of dollars to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses. Perhaps you would prefer a position making more than $220,000 plus a $9,000 travel allowance and a bonus of $11,000 a year for not calling out sick. Or maybe you simply will take $740,000 when you retire, as a thank-you for your years of loyal service. These positions, and others like them, are on the public payroll. The title? School superintendent. For years, the state did little to regulate salaries and perks of superintendent contracts, many of which exceed the $175,000 salary authorized for the governor's job. The cushy days, though, may be over. Public outrage and state government concern over contracts packed with lucrative benefits and "golden parachute" buy-out provisions have led to a series of laws and regulations that aim to curtail school spending, especially for administrative salaries. "It's fair to say that this is definitely a new day," said Lucille Davy, commissioner of the state Department of Education. "If you are paying them reasonably and responsibly for doing the job, then there's no reason to give a parachute or a parting gift, or another half a million at the end because you thought they were nice people." Lawmakers are also pushing to restrict what they term excessive payments. "Some school superintendents have taken the mistaken view that money meant for the classroom would be better spent financing their personal, diamond-encrusted, taxpayer-provided nest eggs," said Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, D-Union, sponsor of a bill that would tamp down large retirement payouts. "The residents of New Jersey are rightfully outraged at seeing their tax dollars used to provide departing superintendents with these offensive payouts." In the past, it wasn't uncommon for top administrators to be paid tens of thousands of dollars at retirement for unused sick days. Now, the new laws cap accumulated sick pay at $15,000. The laws also require school districts to detail administrators' total benefit packages on their Web sites, and advertise any changes to superintendent contracts at least a month in advance of a public hearing. The post of executive county superintendent has been created in each county. He or she must review all employment contracts over $75,000, and reject any that have excessive costs. No guidelines as to what constitutes excessive cost have been proposed yet. A school district also is barred from awarding a bonus to an administrator unless a specific criteria is outlined for that bonus, according to regulations recently adopted by the Department of Education. School boards, though, can still provide cars for administrators, but they cannot be luxury models. Keansburg backlash A reform bill sponsored by Cryan passed the Assembly by a 76-to-4 vote last month. If it becomes law, the bill would ban large severance packages for both current and future school superintendents and other high-ranking school officials, regardless of the terms of an administrator's current contract, a provision that could be challenged in court. The measure, expected to be considered by the state Senate in the fall, limits severance payouts for unused sick and vacation time to a maximum of $30,000. Cryan said his bill stemmed from outrage over Keansburg Superintendent Barbara A. Trzeszkowski's $740,000 severance package. "I don't think, going forward, we are going to find that kind of abuse," said state Sen. Shirley K. Turner, D-Mercer, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, "because there are more safeguards in place now." Turner said the requirement for districts to place contract details on their Web sites also would make it easier for the public to review administrators' salary and benefit packages. "So it is not as easy to provide these gold and platinum parachutes without the public knowing," Turner said. "The theory being, if the public knew about it, they would be a bit more circumspect." Assemblyman Delcan O'Scanlon, R-Monmouth, said all employment contracts need to be examined for excesses. "We tend to do this in New Jersey; we tend to be a little myopic and reactionary," O'Scanlon said. "I think that we've got to look at everyone that might have a contract and be in position to have a severance package that might be outrageous." Education lawyer Vito Gagliardi said the Legislature has focused on superintendent contracts even though they are a small percentage of a district's total budget. "There is no talk about teachers' salary and benefits, but there is a lot of talk about superintendent contracts," Gagliardi said. Some residents say they are angered by what they see as excessive salaries and overly generous perks that have been in the news in recent months. In Wall, Superintendent James F. Habel's contract includes a $191,000 annual salary, free lifetime health benefits for him and his wife, and the use of a GMC Denali sport-utility vehicle with up to 150 gallons of gasoline per month. "Why are they paying him all this money, when his performance is not accountable?" said Wall resident Nina Ciciarelli, who has two children enrolled in the district's schools. "No one is watching the store; they are giving him (Habel) everything he wants." Wall Board of Education President Deidre Kukucka said Habel is a "visionary," and said his contract includes perks that were standard for many superintendents in the past. "I think our school district is very fortunate to have him," Kukucka said. She said the new regulations could force districts to pay superintendents larger salaries if perks are eliminated. "You're certainly not going to get a superintendent to stay and take a significant reduction in pay," she said. "We may have to put our money up front." A chilling effect? The more stringent regulations have some school superintendents wondering who will be interested in pursuing administrative jobs in the future. Many contracts that have been negotiated within the past year include caps on sick and vacation time payouts. With 608 superintendent posts in the state, the demand for superintendents can outmatch the supply, which in turn can drive up salaries. Brian McAndrew, superintendent of the Monmouth County Vocational School District, said that with a dearth of qualified candidates, "Boards of education are paying the salaries because they're having a difficult time finding appropriate people to fill those jobs. . . . You will have, potentially, principals right now who are basically ready to move to the assistant super or superintendent level, who'll say, "I'm not giving up what I've got.' " Long Branch Superintendent Joseph Ferraina, whose $222,436 annual salary is augmented by $90,000 in perks and benefits, questioned whether the new regulations will actually produce any significant cost savings. "There's no doubt that things will be coming forward, that legislation will be approved with certain caps and things that are going to go in place," Ferraina said. "Will they get the results? I don't know. I think that there will be mixed results." Toms River Regional Superintendent Michael J. Ritacco said that the public focus on superintendents' compensation does not include any discussion of the value a good school leader brings to a community. "The scope of the job has really changed," said Ritacco, whose district includes 18 schools and about 17,600 students. "You have to be able to provide great educational opportunities for kids and still keep the taxes down. I would consider it to be really an important position in the community." Ritacco was paid $225,000 for the 2007-08 school year, but his contract caps his salary increase at 1.3 percent annually, and includes a $15,000 limit on the number of sick days he can redeem upon retirement. Ritacco's previous contract allowed him to cash in nearly $300,000 in unused sick and vacation days over a four-year period, a provision that was removed from his current agreement. Toms River Regional Board of Education President Betty Vasil said it is unfair to compare the salary of Ritacco, whose district includes four towns, to districts that may have only one school with 100 pupils. "I think the mistake people make is trying to compare superintendent contracts across the state," Vasil said. "We're the size of three districts." Guidelines in the works Some in the education community wonder if the new regulations have gone too far. "Our organizations urge state leaders to avoid overreaction through unnecessary and restrictive legislation or regulation," Marie S. Bilk, executive director of the New Jersey School Boards Association, and Richard G. Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, wrote in a recent letter to school boards and superintendents. The school boards association and the administrators group have formed a joint task force to study superintendent compensation and make recommendations on contract development "that are fair and reasonable and meet the expectations of the citizens of New Jersey." School Boards Association spokesman Frank Belluscio said boards of education are moving away from non-salary compensation and trying to make all compensation for administrators "as visible as possible." Not all superintendents have lofty compensation packages and perks. Ocean Gate Superintendent Frank Vanalesti was paid $104,600 for the 2007-08 school year, about $10,000 less than he earned as principal at Asbury Park Middle School. His contract caps his sick time payout at $7,000, a rarity among local contracts. Ocean Gate has about 150 students in one elementary school. "I actually came in search of a small district knowing that the pay was less," Vanalesti said. "In a smaller place, smaller is better. We have the ability, as educators, to really work closely with the families and the children." Vanalesti said he believes the governor and state legislators have unfairly targeted superintendent salaries as a way to divert attention from the state's fiscal problems. "It's a fallacy that there are going to be any great savings by cutting these positions," he said. "There are a few superintendents and a few school boards that have exploited and taken advantage of the system, particularly in the (fiscally needy) Abbott districts, but it is sinful that everyone is placed in the same category."