New deal for Farmington school superindendent draws fire

The Farmington school board has approved a new contract for its superintendent, drawing fire from two newly elected board members who criticized the timing and content of the deal.

Superintendent Brad Meeks will earn a base salary of $172,000 during the 2009-10 school year, up from $160,000. He will make $180,000 a year by the end of the three-year deal.

"Apparently, this school board thinks we have money to burn," Tim Burke, who will be sworn in as a board member in January, said in a written statement Tuesday. "I'm guessing teachers will be expecting the same treatment when they negotiate their new contract next year."

The board voted 5-1 for the contract Monday, with Ann Manthey dissenting.

Burke and another newly elected board member, Julie Singewald, said the board should have postponed contract negotiations with Meeks until they take office.

Some give and take

The contract gives Meeks less severance pay than his current agreement -- a quarter of his annual pay, instead of half -- if he leaves voluntarily for another job. However, it also has some new perks, including:

• $5,500 a year that he can put in a tax-sheltered annuity plan of his choice.

• A provision that says the district will pay health insurance premiums for Meeks and his family for a year after he leaves the district, unless another employer gives him comparable coverage.

With fringe benefits such as cashed-out vacation time, the superintendent could make more than $30,000 more next year than he does now, Burke estimated after comparing the two contracts.

Deal was subject of study

The board looked at superintendent compensation at other districts in Dakota County and a cluster of other metro-area school districts of comparable size and growth when it negotiated the contract.
Charlie Kyte, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, countered the position staked out by Burke and Singewald. Leaving contract negotiations to new school board members who haven't worked with the superintendent, he said, would be "foolhardy." Many school boards have already renewed expiring superintendent contracts, and delaying the process with Meeks would have left him open to seek other jobs at a time when a handful of Minnesota districts are trying to fill superintendent positions, Kyte said, adding said that Meeks' compensation is "well in line" with other metro-area districts.