Lebanon Schools Superintendent Compensation

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Overview

The current "Superintendent's Contract" for the Lebanon Community School Corporation can be accessed through a link at the bottom of the LCSC School Board web page at http://www.leb.k12.in.us/schoolboard.asp. A public hearing for three proposed changes to the current Superintendent's Contract was held at 7:00 AM on Monday, December 8 - one member of the public attended and spoke at this inconveniently timed public hearing.

Listed next are comments on the three originally proposed changes to the Superintendent's Contract and one additional suggested change. Comments regarding the Final Proposed Contract are included near the bottom of this web page. 

Base Salary Increase

It is proposed that the Superintendent’s base salary be increased 3.57 percent from $140,000 to $145,000. Listed next are the various components of the Superintendent’s current compensation, including a total annual salary of $172,449.74 and a grand total identified annual compensation of $210,480.74. 

A $5,000 increase in the base salary will increase the total annual salary by at least 2.90 percent. The $5,000 base salary increase is considerable and sufficient when the totality of the Superintendent’s ample compensation is taken into consideration.

One-Year Renewal Provision

It is also proposed that a one-year renewal provision be added to the current three-year Contract that ends June 30, 2017. One year would be added to the Contract on February 1 of each year unless prior notice of intent not to extend the Contract is provided by the School Board. It is poor public policy to have what will likely be a perpetual three-year Contract for the Superintendent.

If the one-year renewal provision is not added to the Contract, then the 2016 School Board would have to approve an entirely new contract. The 2016 School Board might decide the Superintendent’s Contract is overly generous or might want to hire a new Superintendent. It is good public policy to have a School Board completely review the Superintendent’s continued employment and Contract at least once every three years without the hindrance of a perpetually extended three-year contract term allowed by prior School Boards. The proposed one-year renewal provision should not be added to the Superintendent’s Contract.

Performance Bonus

A third proposed Contract change is to allow the Superintendent to qualify for a performance bonus if the Indiana Department of Education grade for the Lebanon Community School Corporation is an A or a B. Listed next is some information regarding the 2014 Final School Corporation Grades for 294 Indiana school corporations. 

The education outcomes for the 43.88 percent of school corporations receiving an A grade were only better than 56.12 of all school corporations. Education outcomes for school corporations receiving a B grade were only better than 22.79 percent of all school corporations. A school corporation grade of an A or a B is a very low standard for a performance bonus.

Education outcomes vary considerably between school corporations that receive an A grade. The Lebanon, Western Boone, and Zionsville school corporations all received an A grade for 2014. However, the Lebanon Community School Corporation was considerably behind Zionsville – and somewhat behind Western Boone – in college readiness, gifted and talented students percentage, ISTEP passing scores, ISTEP pass plus scores, first-time test-takes passing ECA standards, percent of graduates taking Advanced Placement tests, percent Core 40 with Honors diplomas, and IREAD-3 scores. A school corporation A grade by itself is insufficient justification for awarding a performance bonus to the Lebanon Superintendent. Detailed information is available online at http://www.finplaneducation.net/county_education_outcomes.htm. 

One good justification for a Superintendent performance bonus could be the development of a joint curriculum with Vincennes University where students can graduate from Lebanon High School with an associates degree in advanced manufacturing from the new Training Center that is scheduled to open in the Lebanon Business Park next fall. Preparing a workforce for good-paying advanced manufacturing jobs promises to improve the economic well-being of central Boone County.

Early Contract Termination

An Indiana Code reference in Section 1.02(b) of the Superintendent’s Contract appears to have been repealed. The Indiana Code reference regarding how the school corporation may terminate the Contract prior to the expiration date should probably be 20-28-7.5-1 instead of the repealed 20-28-7-1.

Conclusion

The summary comments listed next are for the originally proposed changes to the Superintendent's Contract.

(1) The proposed $5,000 base salary increase is considerable and sufficient.

(2) The proposed one-year renewal provision should not be added to the Superintendent’s Contract because the ability of the School Board to effectively make school governance decisions would be hindered.

(3) A school corporation grade of an A or a B by itself is an insufficient justification for awarding a performance bonus and should not be included in the Superintendent’s Contract.

(4) The development of a Vincennes University advanced manufacturing associates degree program for Lebanon High School graduates should be a requirement for the Superintendent to receive a performance bonus next year.

(5) The Superintendent’s contract should include the proper Indiana Code reference regarding the grounds for early termination.

Final Proposed Contract

The final proposed Superintendent's Contract is available online at http://www.leb.k12.in.us/pdf/district/schoolboard/proposed%20super%20contracr.pdf. This version of the Superintendent's Contract will be on the agenda for the December 15, 2014, meeting of the LCSC School Board. The comments listed next pertain to this final proposed version of the Superintendent's Contract.

(1) A $5,000 base salary increase is proposed. This base salary increase is considerable and sufficient.

(2) The originally proposed one-year renewal provision is NOT included in the final version of the proposed Superintendent’s Contract.

(3) It is proposed that the Superintendent will receive a performance bonus of (a) $3,000 if LCSC receives an annual state performance rating of A and (b) $2,000 if LCSC receives an annual state performance rating of B. Of the 294 school corporations that received a 2014 Final School Corporation Grade from the Indiana Department of Education, 43.88 percent received an A grade and 33.33 percent received a B grade. The education outcomes for the 43.88 percent of school corporations receiving an A grade were only better than 56.12 of all school corporations. Education outcomes for school corporations receiving a B grade were only better than 22.79 percent of all school corporations. Even though the Lebanon, Western Boone, and Zionsville school corporations all received an A grade for 2014, the Lebanon Community School Corporation was considerably behind Zionsville – and somewhat behind Western Boone – in college readiness, gifted and talented students percentage, ISTEP passing scores, ISTEP pass plus scores, first-time test-takes passing ECA standards, percent of graduates taking Advanced Placement tests, percent Core 40 with Honors diplomas, and IREAD-3 scores. A school corporation grade of an A or a B by itself is a very low standard for a performance bonus. It is the equivalent of taking a class to get an easy A or a gift B and also wanting that class to carry extra weight in the computation of a Grade Point Average.

(4)  The development of a Vincennes University advanced manufacturing associates degree program for Lebanon High School graduates should be a requirement for the Superintendent to receive a performance bonus next year.

(5) The final proposed version of the Superintendent’s Contract includes the correct Indiana Code reference regarding the grounds for early termination.

If the LCSC School Board does not remove the overly generous performance bonus from the Superintendent’s Contract, the Superintendent will receive a compensation increase of $8,000 – $5,000 from the base salary increase and a $3,000 performance bonus. Because a $5,000 total compensation increase is considerable and sufficient when the totality of the Superintendent’s ample compensation is taken into consideration, the Superintendent’s base salary should only be increased $2,000 if the performance bonus section remains in the Superintendent’s Contract.

ACT NOW

Please ACT NOW and let the LCSC School Board know what you think of the proposed changes in the Superintendent's Contract. The E-mail addresses for LCSC School Board members Michael Burtron, David Herr, Tom Merritt, Michelle Thomas, and Robert Wirey are: burtronm@leb.k12.in.us; herrd@leb.k12.in.us; merrittt@leb.k12.in.us; thomasmm@leb.k12.in.us; wireyr@leb.k12.in.us

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This page was last updated on 12/10/14 .