LI school big ‘skirts’ salary cap | New York Post

LI school big ‘skirts’ salary cap | New York Post



Take your salary cap and shove it.
While Gov. Cuomo continues to push a bill that would limit New York school superintendents’ annual salaries to $175,000, Syosset, LI, Superintendent Carole Hankin — the highest paid in the state —has already circumvented the proposed ceiling.
Last June, four months after Cuomo first proposed the salary cap, Hankin, 69, quietly inked a five-year contract that guarantees she will receive no less than her current salary— $405,244, The Post has learned.
Cuomo’s bill — which languished in the Legislature last year but was reintroduced this year — would apply only to school superintendents who enter into or extend contracts after the law takes effect.
“This is despicable and gives new meaning to the word ‘chutzpah,’ ” said Desmond Ryan, executive director of the Association for a Better Long Island, a developer’s lobby. “In these difficult economic times, that the school board would even consider this is a disgrace.”
The $113.6 billion state budget approved by the Legislature Friday included an extra $90 million in Long Island school funding, Ryan said, adding, “Money that was meant for the education of our children will instead go to enhance this woman’s salary.”
Hankin’s total annual compensation comes to $537,767, including retirement funds and fringe benefits. Expenses include use of a “late-model car” and gas. She can also do outside consulting on her time off.
She oversees about 6,600 students in 10 schools, yet her salary is nearly double that of New York City Chancellor Dennis Walcott, who gets $212,614, to watch over 1.1 million kids in 1,700 schools.
Hankin’s first deputy, Jeffrey Streitman, rakes in $419,033 in salary and other benefits, but Cuomo’s bill would not apply to underlings
In addition to barring any cut in her current salary, Hankin’s 2011-16 contract says she’s entitled to a cost-of-living pay hike next school year, based on any increase in the Consumer Price Index.
A p.r. firm hired by the district said Hankin has agreed not to accept any raises “through the end of her tenure,” in four years and three months.
In response to a call to Syosset School Board President Marc Hermann, the p.r. firm issued a statement on his behalf, saying of Hankin: “We are extraordinarily proud of her 22 years of leadership . . . and the national acclaim we have received because of it.”
But Joshua Lafazan, an 18-year-old Syosset HS senior running for a seat on the school board, blasts Hankin’s cushy deal and the nine board members he calls her “puppets.”
“The most upsetting part is that the school board forgets that Carole Hankin is an employee of the district and [that it] is in charge of her — not vice versa,” said Lafazan, senior class president.
A spokesman for Cuomo — who cited Hankin’s salary as excessive when he first proposed the cap — declined to comment on her contract but said, “The Governor’s Office continues to support this legislation as part of our ongoing efforts to streamline state government and protect taxpayer dollars.”
Hankin, a grandmother of nine, lives in upstate Purchase with her husband, Joseph, president of Westchester Community College. They also own an oceanfront mansion in Westhampton Beach, LI.

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