Increase pay for schools chief

By almost any comparative measure used to evaluate fair compensation, Hawaii’s superintendent of schools is vastly underpaid. That’s what should propel House Bill 2257 and the companion measure set for a hearing Friday, Senate Bill 2806, through to an easy passage at the state Capitol.

Under state law, Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi’s salary has been capped at $150,000 for the past three years.

The bills moving this session, which would raise the cap to $250,000, comprise the second attempt to increase the pay level. In 2010, the Legislature passed a bill that would have boosted the salaries of the superintendent — as well as the amounts earned by the deputy, assistant and complex area superintendents — but it was vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle.

It may have been defensible to postpone raises during the budget crisis that loomed large that year, before the economic recovery had gained any traction. But given the surplus the state now enjoys, the same budgetary constraint no longer applies — at least not to the top position, for which there is ample justification that a raise is in order.

The state Board of Education, which hires and oversees the superintendent, presented that evidence last week at a hearing before the House Committee on Education.

Don Horner, BOE chairman, testified that the salary has not been adjusted since 2001 and if it were adjusted for inflation, the pay would be $199,995. On that basis alone, setting the cap at $250,000 seems a reasonable request.

But the real argument is simple recruitment strategy. The next time the position opens, the school board will face a challenge finding a top-tier contender, considering that Hawaii’s superintendent pay tops out well below that of districts that are smaller — in some cases, much smaller.

"The ability to recruit and retain effective educational leadership has a direct impact on the quality of education for approximately 180,000 students within our state," Horner said.

The average minimum scheduled salary for school districts of 25,000 or more students exceeds $226,000, he said.

The bills under consideration this year deal only with the superintendent’s pay, and that is how they should remain. Lawmakers should not replicate the language of the 2010 bill, which sought to define increases for the other top-level DOE administrators. There should be no coattails effect for these salaries, which should be set based on a separate analysis of comparables around the country.

One of the reasons Lingle vetoed the raises in 2010 was because she opposed setting salaries in statute without specific performance metrics in the law. It would be difficult to craft the language in a law that would address performance standards, which is why that is a matter best left to the school board.

The state Board of Education has the authority to set the base salaries for the deputy, assistant and complex area superintendents, and approved raises for them in September. The law capping those salaries at 80 percent of the superintendents salary was amended in 2011, leaving only the restriction that they cannot exceed the superintendents salary. 

That definition seems rational and is best left as it is. There’s already enough upward pressure on these salaries because the posts often are filled from the principals’ ranks, whose pay increases are mandated under union contracts.

The idea that principals are union members rather than management has always been wrongheaded, but lawmakers haven’t shown the will for a needed overhaul, even in non-election years.

But this decision on raising the superintendent’s salary cap should be noncontroversial: SB 2806, which will be heard at 1:30 p.m. Friday in room 414, deserves support.

Making the pay competitive is no silver bullet for addressing the state’s public education challenges, but good leadership is a key part of the equation.

Hawaii should pay what the position demands.