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How does the Board of Trustees determine how much to pay the Chief Superintendent of Schools?The Chief Superintendent is the only CBE employee who reports to the Board of Trustees. The discussion about compensation for the Chief position starts with learning. The Board of Trustees obtains information about what the job market pays for similar “jobs.” Independent compensation experts compare the pay—including salary, bonuses and benefits—with similar positions based on the responsibilities not the job title. For an executive position, compensation is based on factors such as: budget; number of employees; number of sites; whether the employer is unionized or not; and the strategic importance of the role. The CBE Chief Superintendent manages a $1.1 billion operating budget; more than 12,000 employees; more than 230 sites and eight unions and associations. It is a huge and important job to educate more than 104,000 students. Based on those factors, a range is developed that reflects the market competitiveness for the position. In other words, what does the job market pay for this level of responsibility? From this information a market-based range is established. Within the range, the Board of Trustees determines what the current Chief gets paid. To initially set the salary, the Board of Trustees considers the experience and performance of the person in the role. Progression within the range is based solely on performance. In March of 2010, the bonus for the Chief was eliminated and the salary range was established. The last bonus was paid in 2010 and was about $25,000; the salary increase was reported to be about $9,000. With all of the puts and takes, the overall cost of our Chief Superintendent was less for 2010-11 than the prior year. The fact that our Chief experienced a decrease in compensation is significant. Our Chief is doing an excellent job of managing a world-class school system. The performance of our system under her leadership has been and continues to be exceptional. We decreased our Chief’s compensation in a year when the Alberta Average Weekly Earnings (AAWE) increased 2.92 per cent and most CBE employees got increases. Overall, the Board of Trustees unanimously agreed that the compensation for the Chief is fair, competitive and appropriate.
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