FORMER SCHOOLS SUPE OSBORNE IN WSJ: LEAVING "INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT"

Former South Orange Maplewood Schools Superintendent Brian Osborne says it was an "incredibly difficult choice" for him to leave the SO-M district for his new job in New Rochelle, N.Y., and admits the state salary cap for superintendents played a big part in it.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal posted last night, Osborne says he couldn't sleep some nights as he tossed and turned over whether to leave our district:

The Journal reports:

Brian Osborne said he couldn't sleep some nights this spring as he wrestled with the idea of leaving his superintendent's post in a growing New Jersey district to accept a job offer in New York.

Dr. Osborne had steered South Orange-Maplewood schools through significant changes and wanted to see his work continue to bear fruit. But he couldn't resist a job in New Rochelle, N.Y., with base pay of $265,000 a year—or $87,500 more than he could earn in New Jersey under a salary cap that would hit him as soon as his contract expired June 30. 

"It was an incredibly difficult choice," he said.

With Dr. Osborne's decision, 10 of the 43 districts in New York's Westchester County are now run by former New Jersey superintendents who left after Gov. Chris Christie imposed the saalary cap in February 2011, saying it would help limit sky-high property taxes.

 

The story later adds:

A recent survey by the New Jersey School Boards Association found that 219 out of 561 districts had turnover among superintendents, sometimes more than once, since the cap took effect. 

In 97 cases, districts cited the cap as the reason for the leader's departure. Many headed to jobs in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York. Some retired.

The governor's spokesman, Michael Drewniak, said the cap will be revisited when it sunsets in 2016. He wouldn't predict whether it might change.

 

See more HERE.