Alberta Education announced a new superintendent salary framework June 1 which will require all provincial school boards to keep superintendent salary within a set range.
The framework applies to all future superintendent contracts, with each school board in the province sorted into one of five salary range levels based on the roles and responsibilities, according to a June 1 press release. The framework comes as a result of a review of superintendent compensation announced by Alberta Education March 12.
Education Minister David Eggen said the review was necessary to ensure public funds were being spent well.
"There was a need for the government to act to improve on transparency when it comes to the contracts for these positions," Eggen said in a June 1 press conference. "The public and the government have a fair expectation that public funds should be spent where they will do the most good and in this case, that is our classrooms."
The June 1 press release said the measure is expected to cut overall compensation for superintendents by 10 per cent, resulting in $1.5 million in savings.
New rules will also come into force limiting the kinds of benefits available to superintendents, according to the June 1 press release. The release lists several benefits found in some superintendent contracts which will no longer be allowed in future contracts, including a $10,000 per year year payment for a superintendent's children's post-secondary education and a $10,000 per year payment for "incidental" costs with no further details."
College of Alberta School Superintendents (CASS) president Christopher MacPhee said in a separate June 1 media release the organization has been working with the government to ensure a equitable and transparent superintendent compensation structure,
"While not all of CASS' recommendations for a new structure were adopted by the government in this review, our superintendents remain fully dedicated to overseeing and managing the schools where our children thrive," MacPhee said in the media release.
Local school boards sorted
The framework will apply to all new contracts signed going forward, but does not apply to existing contracts, Eggen said during the news conference.
The framework includes minimum, midpoint and maximum salary levels for superintendents. Boards are available to approve any salary between minimum and midpoint, but will require ministerial approval to pay any salary beyond the midpoint.
When asked if any of Aspen View Public Schools, Pembina Hills Public Schools or Northern Lights Public Schools had compensation perks which would not be allowed under the new regulation, Alberta Education minister press secretary Lindsey Harvey said the details on individual contracts could not be divulged.
"The details of all contracts were submitted to Alberta Education confidentially and will not be shared publicly. However, we can confirm that at least some of the elements in the contracts you identified will need to be reconsidered in the future, to meet the rules set out in Regulation," Harvey said in an email. "It is our expectation that most contracts across the province may have elements that do not align with the new compensation framework."
Aspen View communications officer Ross Hunter said in a cursory review of the new regulation, superintendent Mark Francis's contract, which does not expire until 2022, would fall within the new regulation.
Interview requests sent to Pembina Hills Public Schools and Northern Lights Public Schools were not returned before publish time.
The review was originally announced after Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) sent out a report Feb. 12 which said Alberta superintendents salaries were increasing while the average Albertan salary decreased. The report also said Alberta superintendents were being paid more than comparable positions in Ontario, B.C. and Saskatchewan.
However, CASS said the original report had several inaccuracies, with an edited version of the report released Feb. 28 which changed several figures. For example, a 10 per cent superintendent salary increase noted in the original report as occurring over three years was instead said to have occurred over five years in the updated version.
Aspen View's board of trustees took issue with the report, voting March 1 to write a lesser expressing its concern to ASBA.
Aspen View board of trustees chair Dennis MacNeil said he was disappointed in the ASBA for the report and for the government acting on it.
"Potentially, what you can have here is your principal making more than your superintendent," MacNeil said in an interview. "That's really unfortunate. It's another one of those issues, as far as I'm concerned anyway, that eroded the autonomy of boards to make decisions around salary compensation."
He added if there were issues with some benefits in superintendent contracts, the minister should have addressed them with individual boards.
"He should have instructed those boards to do something about it rather than painting everybody in the province with the same brush," MacNeil said.
When asked about the complaint of the framework damaging school board autonomy, as well as the possibility these restrictions would make it more difficult for boards to recruit talent, Eggen said he stood by the review.
"We must be responsible with public money at every turn. There is an interaction between the autonomy of boards and the authority and responsibilities of the ministry and the minister," Eggen said during the conference, adding there must be fair but not excessive compensation in executive positions across the province. "I stand by this. I think it's long past due there was a review of compensation."
