Editor’s note: This post was originally published by our friends and partners, BoardOnTrack. This is the second installment in our series designed to demystify charter school leader compensation and help charter CEOs and board chairs navigate this complex process successfully. Take a look at part one here. Reach out to us to share your stories and questions. Or, if you’re a BoardOnTrack member, start a conversation in our members-only community.
Like many aspects of charter school leadership, successfully negotiating your compensation requires a strategic, well-planned process. Effective charter school governance depends on solid group processes, and this is particularly crucial when asking your board for a raise.
Why Charter School Compensation Conversations Are Uniquely Challenging
Compensation discussions can be sensitive in any organization, but they’re especially complex in the charter school sector. Public service compensation often triggers conflicting opinions and misconceptions that don’t exist in other industries.
A structured approach helps you address these misconceptions, achieve philosophical alignment with your board, and ensure data-driven decision-making. The most successful charter CEOs understand which questions their board needs to address, come prepared with benchmark data, and allow adequate time for thoughtful discussion.
Six Essential Steps Before Initiating Compensation Discussions
1. Establish a CEO Support & Evaluation Committee
Create a formal board committee dedicated to overseeing your role and compensation. This committee should guide the entire process of reviewing your job description, setting goals, conducting mid-year check-ins, and managing your annual evaluation.
This dedicated committee becomes your primary point of contact for all compensation-related matters, ensuring consistent communication and avoiding the confusion that can arise when the entire board attempts to manage these discussions.
2. Define and Update Your Role
Ensure you have a current, board-approved job description that accurately reflects your actual responsibilities. Charter school leadership roles evolve rapidly as organizations grow, and your compensation should reflect these changes.
If you’re leading a $15 million organization with multiple campuses, but your job description was written when you were managing a $2 million startup serving a few hundred students, it’s time for an update. Your role has fundamentally changed, and your compensation framework should acknowledge this growth.
The Game-Changing Secret: Quantify your time allocation. Assign percentages to each responsibility in your job description. This exercise will be revelatory for both you and your board.
For example, Caprice Young of Learn4Life—a Charter Hall of Fame inductee—recommends dedicating 30% of your time to board relations. Without explicitly documenting this expectation, you risk creating unrealistic job requirements that set you up for failure.
Best Practice: Review and update your job description annually at your board retreat. This prevents frustration and misconceptions while building a solid foundation for your evaluation and compensation discussions. Use our sample job description as your starting point.
3. Establish Clear, Measurable Goals
Define specific, measurable objectives that you’ll be accountable for delivering each school year. Begin with the core commitments in your charter and accountability plan, then articulate how you plan to meet or exceed these benchmarks.
Include stretch goals, but keep them realistic. This isn’t about creating an impossible standard—it’s about establishing high-level organizational objectives tied to reasonable key performance indicators (KPIs) that you and the board can review at every meeting.
Work with your board committees to develop and approve these goals, then bring them to the full board for a formal vote. Board approval ensures everyone understands exactly what you’ll be held accountable for in the coming year.
Pro Tip: Get board approval for your reporting timeline as well. Define when you’ll update the board on progress toward each goal and which updates happen at the committee level versus full board meetings.
4. Achieve Full-Board Philosophical Alignment
Before discussing specific compensation figures, ensure your entire board shares the same philosophy about performance pay and other compensation package components.
Partner with your CEO Support & Evaluation Committee to identify key philosophical questions that need resolution, then develop a process to address these issues at the committee level before seeking full board approval.
Critical Discussion Points:
- Should base salary match district levels or exceed them?
- Will compensation be based on local or national salary scales?
- Will performance bonuses be offered, and if so, what will trigger them?
- What other compensation elements (benefits, professional development, etc.) should be considered?
Address the Chief Misconception: Many trustees incorrectly assume charter school CEOs are equivalent to traditional public school administrators. This misconception must be addressed immediately to achieve proper philosophical alignment.
Key Distinction: As a charter school CEO, you’re leading a multimillion-dollar public enterprise. Unlike traditional public school principals who focus primarily on teaching and learning, you’re responsible for:
- Securing and managing facilities
- Overseeing all financial systems and procedures
- Managing comprehensive HR responsibilities
- Fundraising and development
- Building and sustaining an exceptional governing board
In traditional public schools, central office teams handle these responsibilities. This fundamental difference is crucial when discussing appropriate compensation levels.
Additional Questions to Address:
- Is your requested increase aligned with market rates? (Research thoroughly and be prepared to justify any discrepancies)
- Does the budget accommodate this increase? (Build your annual budget assuming the raise will be approved)
- Is the increase equitable within your organization? (Provide data on organizational salary ranges and increases to justify your proposed level)
5. Integrate CEO Compensation into Your Budgeting Process
Include thoughtful discussion about potential CEO compensation increases as part of your annual budgeting process. Build your budget assuming your requested raise will be approved—don’t treat it as an afterthought.
Consider Non-Cash Compensation: Many successful charter school CEOs have negotiated valuable non-monetary benefits such as:
- Tuition reimbursement for professional development
- Paid or unpaid sabbaticals
- Additional vacation time
- Professional membership dues
- Conference attendance funding
6. Complete a Comprehensive Annual Evaluation
Implement a robust evaluation process that includes self-assessment of your performance against promised results and provides opportunity for full board input.
The most effective evaluation processes are clear, consistent, and year-round—not last-minute scrambles at the school year’s end.
Proven Solution: The BoardOnTrack platform guides CEOs and boards through a step-by-step evaluation process, tracking results year over year to recognize long-term performance trends during compensation discussions.
Setting Yourself Up for Success
When you’ve completed this foundational work—achieving philosophical alignment, establishing board-approved goals that you consistently exceed, and building a budget that accommodates your salary request—your compensation discussion should proceed smoothly.
Your board will feel invested in the process because they’ve been involved from the beginning, making them more likely to support your request when it aligns with the framework you’ve built together.
Looking for more guidance on charter school governance and leadership? Explore our complete library of resources designed specifically for charter school leaders and their boards.
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