CRYAN CALLS ON ATTORNEY GENERAL TO HALT 'OBSCENE' KEANSBURG SUPERINTENDENT BONUS

CRYAN CALLS ON ATTORNEY GENERAL TO HALT
'OBSCENE' KEANSBURG SUPERINTENDENT BONUS
Assembly Education Chair Calls on Attorney General to Take Tough Stance
On $750K Retirement Bonus; Proposes New Law to Cap Retirement Benefits

(TRENTON) - Responding to reports that the outgoing superintendent of the Keansburg school district will be rewarded a three-quarters-of-a-million-dollar retirement bonus, Assembly Education Committee chairman Joseph Cryan today called on state Attorney General to immediately freeze the payout and investigate it as a "crime against New Jersey taxpayers."

The lawmaker noted that since the payout is part of a five-year-old contract, state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy has no power to override the award despite her expressed desire to do so. He called on state Attorney General Anne Milgram to investigate the deal as a crime against the taxpayers of New Jersey.

"This deal reeks of the insider dealing and disregard for taxpayers that has led residents to hold government in such low esteem," said Cryan (D-Union). "This is an obscene amount for any superintendent, and is especially offensive coming from a district that depends on the state's taxpayers for the bulk of its funding. Not one penny of this payout should be released."

According to published reports, retiring Keansburg schools chief Barbara Trzeszkowski will be paid a $556,290 retirement bonus calculated by multiplying her current monthly salary by the more than 38 years of service in the district on top of $184,586 for more than 250 unused sick and vacation days. She also will earn an annual pension of roughly $115,600.

Cryan said he will work to expedite passage of legislation he will introduce to prohibit any post-retirement benefits beyond what would be an acceptable buy-back of unused leave time.

Under law enacted last year, such payments will be capped at $15,000 each for unused sick and vacation time. However, since Trzeszkowski's contract was in effect prior to the law, she is entitled to reap the entire $184,586.

Cryan noted that in 2006, Trzeszkowski and several other Keansburg officials used school funds to charter a limousine service to shuttle them to an Assembly Budget Committee hearing in Collingswood where she pleaded for more aid for her district. Trzeszkowski reimbursed the district for the $375 limo service only after the event made news.

The Assemblyman noted that one of the school board members who approved the contract -- Kimberly Kelaher-Moran -- still sits on the Keansburg Board of Education.

"The taxpayers of Keansburg and the taxpayers of New Jersey deserve an explanation as to why an elected official who is supposed to look out for the community's best interests would approve such a one-sided deal," said Cryan.

Under the new school funding formula, Keansburg is to receive $28.9 million - 81 percent of its budget - from the state.

"There is no doubt that Keansburg's schoolchildren need every dollar in the classroom," said Cryan, who has toured the district's ramshackle school buildings and trailers. "For these children, $750,000 could make a world of difference. It is patently obscene that this money will instead find its way into the pocket of one person, instead of Keansburg's sorely deserving classrooms."

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