Thursday, October 1, 2026
In his latest effort to reduce New York state’s $10 billion deficit, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling for a bill to cap superintendents’ salaries across the state at $175,000. Cuomo has criticized exorbitant administrative pay and continues his push to rein in what he has called wasteful spending by school districts.
The proposed cap has drawn harsh criticism from local school officials, who say that it could hamper their efforts to find a qualified replacement for Superintendent Dr. Robert Greenberg, who is retiring at the end of the school year.
Greenberg has an annual salary of $232,315, according to the state Department of Education’s School Administrator Salary Disclosure. Under Cuomo’s bill, Greenberg would make $165,000.
Cuomo announced the proposal on Feb. 18, and said that the cap would be based on student enrollment. Currently, 223 of the state’s superintendents — 33 percent — earn more than $175,000. If approved, Cuomo said, the bill would save the state $15 million.
“We must wake up to the new economic reality that government must be more efficient and cut the cost of the bureaucracy,” the governor said in a statement. “We must streamline government because raising taxes is not an option. Reducing back-office overhead, administration, consultants, and encouraging consolidations are the best targets to find savings.”
Cuomo’s initiative comes on the heels of his recent state budget proposal, which includes $1.5 billion in cuts in education aid for schools statewide. The Long Beach School District could lose approximately $4.2 million, or 22 percent, of its expected state aid for 2011-12, according to Michael DeVito, the district’s chief operating officer.
Greenberg said he would reserve his comments on the proposal until he sees the final draft put before the State Legislature.
Board of Education Trustee Roy Lester said that he does not believe the bill will pass. “Each district wants to feel that they can negotiate with their own superintendent or any new superintendent,” Lester said. “I feel the bill might get through the Senate, but not the Assembly. I haven’t seen them being supportive of any radical changes for school district financing.”
Greenberg announced in December that he would retire at the end of the year, after seven years in the district. Lester said that the salary cap could hurt the board’s efforts as it searches for a qualified candidate to replace him.
State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) said that he doesn’t support the bill, nor does he believe it should pass. “Who sets the salary for the superintendent? The school board,” Weisenberg said. “It’s up to the school board and the superintendent to negotiate a salary, not the state.”
He questioned how a cap could be set, since not all districts are the same. “Student population is one thing,” Weisenberg said. “Regional cost to live in the district is another thing. People [also] have different
qualifications.”
“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said of the proposal at a recent meeting with the Herald editorial board. “Salaries are getting out of control. The public sector is not the private sector.”
Skelos described some superintendent salaries and benefit packages as “obscene.” Pensions should be controlled, he said, and should be based only on salary, not on an entire benefits package.
Cuomo’s proposed cap would go into effect only after any existing contract between a district and a superintendent expires. And voters in individual districts could vote to overturn the salary cap in their school budget votes.
Long Beach resident Richard Boodman said he believes the bill is a good start, but would not “cure the problem.” He suggested that the district’s administrative functions be consolidated.
“We have layer upon layer of bureaucracy,” Boodman said. “We need one superintendent for all of Long Island. We’re overloaded with management. We need consolidation. Get rid of all those middle management people who we don’t need.”
Boodman also said that the greater challenge for school districts is rising pension and health insurance costs. “The big picture is to address the issue of these benefits, in the form of pensions and health insurance that are unaffordable, that taxpayers cannot afford to pay,” he said.
Mindy Warshaw, a Boyd Street resident, said Cuomo’s proposal is a good move that she supports “100 percent,” but she added that much more needs to be done to save money throughout the state. “If we’re all in New York State … why aren’t [teachers’] levels of salary identical?” Warshaw said. “[Greenberg] makes too much. I believe we should cap salaries. We should [also] start to group districts together.”
Long Beach High School PTSA Co-President Cathy Musk said that she was ambivalent about Cuomos’s proposal. “Taxes are going up like crazy. It’s a major issue,” Musk said. “On the other hand … superintendents do a huge amount of work. They are [always] on call.”
She said that consolidation might be ideal for smaller districts, but she isn’t certain whether it’s an idea that will be well received by everyone. “I don’t know if people are willing to give up local control,” she said.
Lester said that there are other ways to save money. “Districts can be consolidated,” he said. “For years people have been saying, ‘Here are solutions, let’s look at them.’ And nothing has been done.”
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