The Howard County superintendent?s 13 percent pay raise to $265,000 now makes him comparable to Baltimore County?s top school wage earner.
Superintendent Sydney Cousin, 62, took office in 2004, after joining the school system in 1987 as the director of school planning and construction and later moving through the ranks to deputy superintendent.
“Sydney is loved by a lot of people and is a very endearing person,” said Mary Jane Barbato-Grauso, president of the PTA Council of Howard County. It reflects the jobs he?s doing. Teachers love him.”
In comparison, teachers will receive a 5 percent raise next year.
“I certainly have no reasons to have concerns because Sydney?s done a good job in his role,” said Del. Warren Miller, R-Howard County. “It?s great to give teachers and superintendents raises, but when you have a bloated school bureaucracy, it really takes away the ability to reward good teachers.”
The school system had the region?s highest test scores on the 2007 Maryland School Assessment but was marred with controversy stemming from teachers convicted of sexual assaults and student brawls that led to a homicide outside Mount Hebron High School.
Cousin?s annual base salary will now rise from $231,463 to $265,000, an increase of 12.7 percent, once the contract officially takes effect July 1. It expires June 30, 2012.
In addition to the salary, Cousin will receive annual cost-of-living increases, payments into retirement plans of his choice, standard medical and life insurance coverage and extensions to provide health coverage after he retires, school officials said.
He also receives a $8,400 per year car allowance for travel and business.
Baltimore County Superintendent Joe Hairston will be earning about $270,000 after a new contract with a 3 percent raise, school officials said.
The national average salary for superintendents who have more than 25,000 students is $134,000, according to a 2006 study by the Educational Research Service, a nonprofit organization in Alexandria, Va.
Some superintendents in the region earn a significantly lower salary than the rest, even though their test scores are better than the others.
Carroll County Public Schools Superintendent Charles Ecker, whom Cousin calls his mentor, earns “only” $180,000, the lowest salary. His school system has the second-highest test results, but he earns the most per pupil.
“I retired from the school system in 2003 and it was with the intention that I wouldn?t return. But I?m glad I did,” Cousin said after the board unanimously approved the resolution to renew his contract for four more years.
