St. Paul Public Schools will pay its next superintendent the highest salary in the state for that position, but Joe Gothard’s total compensation falls short of some of his peers.
And if his relationship with the school board sours, Gothard will be entitled to six months’ salary and benefits — far less than his predecessor, Valeria Silva.
Gothard’s contract, which the district made public on Tuesday, includes a $232,000 salary next school year, with future increases at the board’s discretion. That beats the state-high $228,358 salary Minnetonka’s Dennis Peterson made this year.
Silva, had she kept her job, would have made about $211,000 in salary next year. But accounting for a longevity bonus, car allowance and deferred compensation worth a combined $49,400, Silva’s contract this year would have paid her about $12,700 more than what Gothard will get, a Pioneer Press analysis has found.
Besides his salary, Gothard next year will get $7,200 for business expenses, $4,500 for an annuity, and a moving allowance worth up to $4,000 if he leaves Burnsville for St. Paul.
Laurin Cathey, human resources director for the St. Paul district, said it’s a competitive contract for a leader new to the city.
“We’re just trying to get to know him,” Cathey said. “And we have to be very careful, in our current financial state, not to obligate the district long term to any large dollar amounts.”
Gothard has been the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage superintendent for four years.
Ed Graff led the Anchorage, Alaska, district for three years before Minneapolis hired him last year. Gothard’s first-year compensation is somewhat lower than Graff’s. Minneapolis paid a $225,000 salary this year, but with deferred compensation and car and phone allowances, Graff’s pay exceeds Gothard’s contract by $6,700.
Cathey said Gothard’s contract is modeled after standards set by the state associations for school boards and administrators, with an eye toward Gothard’s Burnsville contract. As a result, it’s far less complicated than Silva’s last contract.
“We didn’t want to make it heavy-laden with a bunch of stuff that you’d add onto,” he said.
Gothard, like Silva, has the option of converting up to 10 vacation days to cash. Graff can do so with five days.
But Gothard gets a little less time off than his peers. His 40 days of paid holidays and vacation are one fewer than Silva and six fewer than Graff.
Silva and Graff also get up to 10 days off for consulting or professional development. Gothard’s contract includes no such clause.
Further, Silva’s contract called for family health insurance coverage for life, while Graff and Gothard get more traditional family coverage.
BUYOUT REDUCED
Silva held her job for six and a half years before accepting a $787,500 buyout in June — 30 months before she planned to retire. The big payout was necessary because Silva’s contract put the district on the hook for her entire term if fired without cause.
The school board, with a newly elected majority, reached a settlement instead.
Cathey said previous St. Paul superintendents had the same benefit in their contracts. Gothard’s contract, however, is relatively stingy. If fired without cause, he gets six months’ salary and benefits.
School board president Jon Schumacher said the board did not direct staff to remove the buyout language that Silva’s deal included. But he said they wanted a contract that is fair and easy to understand.
In Minneapolis, Graff gets six months’ pay and benefits whether he’s fired without cause or the board declines to offer him another contract when his term is up.
Gary Lee, director of management services for the Minnesota School Boards Association, said the model contract they offer to school boards includes no buyouts.
“My guess would be that buyout language is pretty rare,” he said, adding that the association does not track what districts include in their superintendent agreements.
Aside from that, he said, Gothard’s new three-year deal “contains all the standard stuff that you’d see between any school district and superintendent.”
Unlike Silva, who was assured performance-based salary increases of 2 or 3 percent per year, Gothard and Graff have no such guarantee.
That could work in Gothard’s favor if he “hits it out of the park,” Cathey said.
“We did not want to restrict or bind anybody. We don’t know what Joe is going to be like,” he said.
Gothard takes over for interim superintendent John Thein on July 1.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the number of vacation days Joe Gothard will be able to convert to cash.
Here’s a comparison of the 2017-18 compensation packages for Silva, Graff, Gothard and Anoka-Hennepin District’s David Law, along with Gothard’s package had he stayed at the Burnsville-Eagan Savage district: