The Board of Education plans to ask lawmakers to lift the salary cap that has kept schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi’s annual pay at $150,000 since her hiring three years ago.

The idea of raising the cap — set by lawmakers in 2001 — has come up informally in recent months as the board discussed Matayoshi’s annual performance evaluation.

Matayoshi recently received an overall "exceptional" job performance rating from the board for the second year of her three-year contract. (While she took over as acting superintendent in January 2010, and was officially appointed to the position nine months later, she did not receive a three-year contract until June 2011.)

The rating was an improvement over the "fully meets expectations" mark Matayoshi received last August. She was praised for working toward targets in the Department of Education’s strategic plan.

She also is credited with helping negotiate a four-year contract for public school teachers that ended a contentious, two-year labor dispute, and overseeing implementation of an accountability system that largely replaces federal mandates of No Child Left Behind.

"The superintendent has done an outstanding job in realigning the department to achieve the objectives of our strategic plan," board Chairman Don Horner said in a statement, adding that she’s helped "position the DOE well for continued improvements in student outcomes."

At a board meeting last month, Horner told Senate Education Chairwoman Jill Tokuda that the BOE would be seeking a pay raise for the superintendent post when state lawmakers convene in January.

Matayoshi’s contract ends June 30.

Horner did not elaborate on what the board would be proposing, but said it would present "a recommendation and thorough analysis."

"That’s something we respectfully, as the board, would ask (you to) support because clearly we need to attract the best and brightest in that type of position," Horner told Tokuda. "Not having an adjustment in salary for 12 to 13 years, I think I speak for the board, I think it’s high time to take a hard look at that this legislative session."

Tokuda said she would be open to the discussion, but suggested the board go beyond just recommending the cap be eliminated. For example, she said, an analysis of comparable national salaries and the merits of using a salary commission would be helpful.

The average salary for a "big city" school superintendent was $239,000 in 2010, according to a Council of the Great City Schools survey. Salaries ranged from $157,000 to $329,000, with more than half of the 56 school districts surveyed reporting salaries of $250,000 or more.

Hawaii is the ninth-largest public school district, with more than 180,000 students.

The salary range for a DOE high school principal is $101,240 to $155,782, with the average Hawaii high school principal earning $124,535. Two principals currently earn more than Matayoshi.