No salary caps

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has escalated his rhetorical assault on school superintendents with legislation to cap their pay in what looks like a ploy to garner support for the governor's proposed $1.5 billion cut in state aid.

During his State of the State message, the governor derided superintendents for having salaries higher than his. Now, he wants limits on how much they can earn, ranging from $125,000 for the smallest districts (based on enrollment) to $175,000 for the largest districts effective when their contracts expire. With nearly a third of the superintendents currently earning more than $179,000, that would force them to accept a pay cut or seek alternatives.

The governor is injecting the state into decisions better left to the marketplace. Statewide school officials say superintendent jobs are becoming harder to fill and can even take years. Competition should set the salary.

The plan also micromanages district affairs by interfering with school board independence to determine salaries of all employees and to decide what is the best use of school finances. The governor couched his cap as a way to save $15 million, a negligible amount of total school spending and just 1 percent of the $1.5 billion he proposes to cut in state aid to education.

School boards have to make hard choices now. Let school boards decide how to cope with their aid reduction as they see fit, such as the need for consolidation to reduce costs and provide opportunities for students in small districts equivalent to larger, wealthier ones better positioned to absorb the state aid loss.

But why just school superintendents? Why not cap the salaries of other school officials? Or maybe county executives?

Limiting superintendent salaries will put pressure on the rest of the system. Deputy superintendents and other central administrators with steadily rising salaries could someday see their pay equal or exceed that of their bosses, unless their salaries are also capped.

The cap will be a disincentive for superintendents to stay. Experienced superintendents who reach their salary limit will have to look to other districts or even outside the state to advance themselves. New York is already losing enough of its talent due to the high cost of living without well-qualified superintendents joining the exodus. They are needed here.