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Province to cut pay for top school board officials I The Star
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Tv'rovince to cut pay for top schoo.
!P:)oard officials
By MATT MCCLURE StarMetro Calgary
Fri., June 1, 2018
CALGARY—The Alberta government is going to limit the pay and perks of top school
board officials in a move the province estimates will save $1.5 million a year, according
to documents obtained from the Ministry of Education.
The documents show the government expects average pay for chief superintendents will
be cut by lo per cent by 2021 as it fully implements rules that will slot all of Alberta's 74
public, separate, Francophone and charter school authorities into five salary bands
based on the size and complexity of each board.
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6/1/2018
Province to cut pay for top school board officials I The Star
Alberta Education Minister David Eggen will be moving to cut back the
salaries and perks offered to school board officials in the
province. (JENNIFER FRIESEN / FOR STARMETRO)
For example, trustees at the four metro boards in Calgary and Edmonton that comprise
the top band will have to pay their chief superintendent between $235,0oo and
$26o,000 per year. If there are unique recruitment challenges or exceptional cases,
boards can ask the minister of education for permission to pay a salary of up to
$275,000.
February after the Alberta School Boards Association released a study that showed on
average, salaries for the province's superintendents were slightly higher than in Ontario,
Saskatchewan and British Columbia. The average superintendent salary was up lo per
cent over the past five years, while the typical Albertan had seen their pay decline over
the same period, the study found.
A Star analysis of what 64 public, separate and Francophone boards paid their chief
superintendents last year suggests any will face salary cuts when their contracts come
up for renewal under the new rules.
Almost three-quarters were making more than the limit trustees will now be allowed to
approve and nearly one-quarter were taking home more than the absolute maximum the
minister of education will be allowed to sign off on.
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6/1/2018
Province to cut pay for top school board officials I The Star
The reappointment of Joan Carr of Edmonton's Catholic School District — the top paid
superintendent in the province last year with total compensation Of $422,000 and a base
salary Of $362,000 — has been stalled in Eggen's office along with eight other contracts
for top board officials pending the results of the pay review.
Under the new rules, Carr would need to take a cut to her base salary of at least $87,000
in order to stay within the absolute maximum allowed under the regulations.
There may also be ramcations for the Calgary Board of Education as it finalizes a
contract with a chosen successor for the resigning David Stevenson, whose base salary is
$295,000 — $20,000 more than the absolute maximum.
The new rules do not apply to existing contracts boards have with superintendents, but
any amendment to a deal during its term or a renewal after the maximum five-year term
must comply.
The leaked documents also show perks that appear in some current contracts — such as
a $1,200 gym membership, payment of up to $1o,000 a year to cover post -secondary
education expenses for children, $1,200 for spouses to attend board social events and an
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ill-defined, executive compensation" fund that paid out up to $25,000 annually in cash
will now be forbidden.
The changes to be announced Friday are the third and final step in the government's
plan to tighten the rules and lower the compensation for top officials paid from the
I M* M M "$=-
commissions, the government moved last month to limit the salaries for presidents at
post -secondary institutions.
A source with knowledge of the new regulations said they will also forbid CBE trustees
from including a clause such as the one in Stevenson's contract that allows him to collect
an extra year's salary Of $295,000 when he finally leaves this year, even though he is
departing voluntarily.
"Nibiew rules would not allow that,"
the source said. "Separation allowances ... will be
prohted."
Under the new rules, the maximum severance amount in the event a contract is
terminIited early by a board without cause will be based on time served and the
maximum salary allowed for that position.
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6/1/2018
Province to cut pay for top school board officials I The Star
For example, a superintendent with 20 years' service let go by one of the four biggest
boards could get a maximum Of 12 months'salary, or $26o,000. A top official with fewer
years at a board lower on the salary band would get considerably less.
Vacation accrual payouts — such as the approximately $1oo,000 accumulated over 40
years of service at the CBE by Stevenson — will still be allowed, but the new rules will
forbid boards from giving their chief superintendent more than six weeks of holidays a
year.
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Province to cut pay for top school board officials I The Star
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