Stay informed with the LNN Daily Newsletter

Alberta cuts school superintendent pay as review finds high salaries, big perks

Jun 1, 2018 | 11:35 AM

EDMONTON –  Alberta is reducing almost all salaries paid to school superintendents after a review determined they’ve been paid too much.

The review also found that taxpayer money was covering perks such as gym memberships and the costs for the children of one unnamed superintendent to go to college.

Education Minister David Eggen says the new salary grid will make sure superintendents are paid a fair and competitive wage while keeping as much money as possible in the classrooms.

Eggen announced the review in March following reports of widely varying contracts, including a pending offer of $430,000 to Joan Carr of the Edmonton Catholic School Board.
 
Eggen had refused to sign off on Carr’s contract pending the review, and any deal Carr signs now will now be subject to the salary cap.
 
Future contracts under the new grid will pay a minimum of $60,000 to a maximum of $275,000 for the biggest school boards, as well as limiting perks and benefits.

The review of existing superintendent compensation practices in the province turned up some interessting findings:

— 17 contracts featured retirement allowances or severance pay agreements that included up to one year’s full salary.

— Median female superintendent pay was about 2.5 per cent less than median male superintendent pay, but their pay was very similar when the composition of the school authorities was taken into account.

— Several outlier provisions were noted in some contracts, none of which will be allowed under the new rules:

   >>> $1,200/year payment for a gym membership
   >>> $10,000/year for a superintendent’s children’s post-secondary education
   >>> $1,200/year to pay for the spouse of a superintendent to attend school board events
   >>> $25,000/year “executive compensation” fund that could be taken as cash, RRSP, or Health Spending Account
   >>> $10,000/year for “incidental” costs with no further details.

The government expects the new compensation guidelines for superintendents will save about $1.5 Million, which will go back into classrooms.