The state Board of Education will seek a $100,000 increase of the salary cap lawmakers placed on the school superintendent position back in 2001.
The board approved a recommendation Tuesday to draft legislation raising the cap to $250,000 from $150,000. The proposal will be made during the upcoming legislative session.
Board members stressed that the increase is tied to the position, not the current superintendent.
"This motion doesn’t change the superintendent’s salary; it just changes the cap," said board member Jim Williams, chairman of the Human Resources Committee.
The contract for Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi — who earns the maximum $150,000 — ends June 30. She recently received an overall "exceptional" job performance rating from the board for the second year of her three-year contract.
Board Chairman Don Horner said if approved, the increase would be helpful in either "renewing a contract or recruitment" of a new chief executive.
Williams said his committee found "the current compensation is not consistent with the duties and responsibilities of the position, it’s not in alignment with national salary norms, it fails to account for cost-of-living increases, it does not give the board flexibility to retain and recruit highly qualified individuals and it’s also not in alignment with compensation for educational officers — principals, vice principals and others."
Two high school principals earn more than Matayoshi.
Williams said his committee looked at compensation for executives of the nation’s 15 largest public school districts.
Hawaii, the ninth-largest district with more than 180,000 students, ranks lowest with its $150,000 cap. The next lowest was Palm Beach County School District in Florida, which pays its superintendent $225,000. Gwinnett County Public Schools in Atlanta, No. 13 in size, pays the highest at $387,934.
If the $150,000 rate had kept up with inflation since 2000, the salary would be at $199,995 today, Williams said.
