School District Administrators Get Merit Bonuses

The South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education voted to award 31 administrative employees a total of approximately $115,000 in merit bonuses at last night's meeting.

Board of Education President Mark Gleason explained that the merit bonus pilot program had been negotiated as part of the 31 employees' previous ASCA contract which expired in June 2010. The money for the the merit bonuses had been allocated in the 2009-10 budget and was carried forward into the 2010-11 budget.

The formula for determining bonuses was based in part on student assessment and in part on individual performance on goals that had been agreed upon between employees and supervisors. Gleason noted recent test scores showing . The bonuses ranged from 2% to 3.5% of base salary.

The 31 ASCA employees have been working without a contract since June 2010. No merit bonus pilot program had been agreed upon for the district's teachers, who belong to the South Orange Maplewood Education Association (SOMEA) union. The teachers have been working without a contract since June 2009.

Gleason could not comment on whether or not such an incentive program was part of ongoing negotiations between the Board of Education and SOMEA. He did say, "Personally, I support compensation plans that link compensation to student achievement."

Earlier Gleason had noted that the bonuses were coming amidst a difficult financial situation for the district, but he felt that the one-time bonuses—which would not be added to base salary nor impact pensions—was the right method for rewarding administrators for work well done. "In a time of severe financial constraint, we support this ...  because we are seeing significant gains" in student performance.

The South Orange-Maplewood School District administration will present its 2011-2012 budget to the Board on January 19. A number of Board of Education members as well as Superintendent Brian Osborne noted that it would be a challenging process to balance the budget and that difficult choices lay ahead.