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Incoming Hawaii public schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto will be eligible for incentive bonuses on top of her annual $240,000 base salary, according to her employment contract with the state.
The Board of Education will annually review Kishimoto’s performance to determine any incentive payments, which will be tied in part to progress made toward goals and objectives in the board and Department of Education’s joint strategic plan. The strategic plan, which runs the duration of Kishimoto’s three-year contract, from 2017 to 2020, sets out goals for graduating more students, enrolling more graduates in college, retaining more teachers, improving test scores, and closing the so-called achievement gap between high-needs students and their peers.
| WORK TERMS
Highlights of Christina Kishimoto’s employment contract with the state Board of Education:
>> Contract term Aug. 1 to June 30, 2020.
>> $240,000 annual base salary.
>> Eligible for performance-based incentive payments, not to exceed $250,000 salary cap.
>> $326 monthly automobile allowance and reserved parking space.
>> State employee benefits including 21 vacation, 21 sick days and up to 14 holidays.
>> If terminated without cause, lump-sum payout equal to salary for remainder of contract, not to exceed one year.
>> Sufficient cause includes failure to execute duties and responsibilities of the office or an overall unsatisfactory evaluation rating, among other reasons.
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Any potential boosts in pay could not exceed $10,000, which would push her pay over the statutory salary cap of $250,000 for the position. Lawmakers in 2014 raised the cap to the current level from $150,000. The pay for outgoing Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi was increased to $200,000 that year.
Kishimoto, 48, also will receive an automobile allowance of $326 a month, according to a copy of the contract obtained by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. As a public employee, the contract states, she will be eligible to receive state benefits including medical coverage, life insurance, retirement, vacation days and sick leave.
Kishimoto’s contract was signed May 17, two days before the Board of Education announced her hiring.
Under terms of the agreement, the Board of Education can terminate Kishimoto with or without cause. If she’s let go without cause, the contract calls for her to be paid a lump sum equivalent of her salary for the remainder of the term of the contract, not to exceed one year.
Kishimoto’s employment may be terminated under six scenarios: At any time by mutual agreement of Kishimoto and the BOE; through Kishimoto’s resignation with a minimum of 30 days’ written notice; if the superintendent “is not qualified (legally, physically, mentally or otherwise) to perform the essential functions of her job with or without reasonable accommodation”; upon her death; by the BOE without cause with written notice to Kishimoto; or upon “reasonable determination” by the BOE that there is cause to fire her.
The contract lays out several situations that would constitute sufficient cause for termination, including:
>> Failure to execute the duties and responsibilities of the office.
>> Failure to attain the goals and objectives of the board and DOE.
>> Failure to inform the board in a timely manner of any circumstances having a material impact on the board or DOE.
>> An overall unsatisfactory evaluation rating by the board.
>> Conviction of a felony or other dereliction of duty that reflects adversely on the department and the board.
>> Determination that the superintendent is unsuitable to work in close proximity to children.
>> Personal misconduct that would reflect badly on the position, the DOE or the board.
Kishimoto had been superintendent and chief executive officer since 2014 of Gilbert Public Schools, a Phoenix-area school district made up of 40 schools with 38,000 students. By comparison, Hawaii’s statewide school district is made up of 256 schools and 34 charters with 180,000 students.
Under a three-year contract with Gilbert that was supposed to run through the end of June 2019, Kishimoto received a base salary of $208,080; an allowance for expenses of up to $5,000 a year; and an automobile allowance of $550 a month.
Her Arizona contract also called for “performance-based compensation” up to $10,000 or 5 percent of base pay, whichever is greater, in any fiscal year.
Under the Gilbert contract, if she had been terminated without cause, the school board there would have been required to pay her any salary and benefits she would have earned or been entitled to from the date of termination through the remainder of the contract.
Kishimoto previously had been superintendent of Hartford Public Schools, a district of about 22,000 students in Connecticut, from 2011 to 2014. Her contract there called for an initial annual base salary of $205,000, followed by base salaries of $231,000 and $238,000, and a $400 monthly car allowance. She had been eligible for up to $30,000 in additional performance-based pay at the end of each school year.
A recent salary report by the School Superintendents Association found the salaries for large school districts (enrollment over 25,000) ranged from $133,527 to $393,000 for the 2016-17 school year.
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