Come June 20, the Roslyn community will once again have an opportunity to vote on the Roslyn School Budget. As you make a decision, I would like you to consider one particular item from the Roslyn Budget, the pay of the superintendent.

Total compensation in 2003-2004 totaled $273,000. Total compensation in 2004-2005 totaled $309,000.The budget you will vote on requests $100,000 more for this position, so the total for the superintendent is potentially in excess of $400,000 per year.

At the recent board of education meeting, more than one resident wondered aloud about this compensation package, but as of 9:30 p.m., when I left the meeting, no board member offered any explanation about the salary.

Like many of you, I try to develop educated opinions about things. I did not know if $400,000 per year for the superintendent position was too little, too much, or just right?

In 2004, Newsday wrote an investigative article about superintendent salaries on Long Island. Here is the link: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/education/ny-lisupe1022,0,3384066.story?coll=ny-lischools-utility.

The average salary package for superintendents on Long Island at the time of that story was $198,000. Superintendent Frank A. Tassone made almost 40 percent more than the average. What justified this premium? What was the board's thinking on this matter?

The superintendent has been compared to the CEO of a corporation, so perhaps, in this light, a lofty compensation package could be justified. The CEO of a for-profit company is ordinarily charged with such criteria as increasing profitability, or productivity, or market share. Success criteria are mostly objective.

What are the superintendent's comparable criteria for success? Are higher graduation rates properly attributable to this school CEO? What about successes in music or athletics? Does he have broad rights to change his labor force (as in teachers), or cut salaries, or close facilities? No, to all of the above.

A qualified superintendent is politically adept and knowledgeable about curriculum and budgets, but he has scant ability to shape a corporation the way a CEO can. The chief criteria for a successful superintendent are subjective--how well he manages his relationships with the community, the Board of Education and other school officials.

I think most would agree that superintendent of the largely homogeneous Roslyn school system with motivated students from stable and educated families is less difficult and less challenging than, say, the chancellor of New York City schools, enrollment over 1 million, but that individual earns $250,000. Why the discrepancy?

In my opinion, thinking about the correct salary for the Roslyn superintendent should be guided by this comparison, not by comparison to hyperinflated salaries in other Long Island school districts.

What exactly is the incremental benefit, which Roslyn obtains in exchange for paying the Roslyn superintendent so much more than the average salary? And given the overwhelmingly subjective nature of the superintendent's position, how will we, the residents, know if we have gotten our money's worth?

We all want quality education for our kids, but the connection between an extravagant superintendent salary and that goal is tenuous, at best. I wonder how many other financial excesses exist in the budget you will consider on June 20.

Your property taxes will increase by 7.85 percent if you approve the June 20 budget. I will vote No: The board needs to know Roslyn residents are committed to educational excellence, not budgetary profligacy.

Ron Bernstein