AS YOU read the Variety this morning, the Guam Education Board is meeting to discuss and vote on the contract to be offered to Jon Fernandez, who has accepted the appointment and desires to serve as superintendent of the Guam Department of Education.

He will be paid the advertised salary, $125,000, and will have whatever other benefits any employee of a line agency like GDOE would get. But through negotiations over the last month, the contract being considered for Mr. Fernandez includes some things that were not advertised, boosting the value of the four-year agreement substantially.

For instance, there is a provision for moving expenses, not to exceed $15,000. Another portion of the agreement provides for a $2,000-a-month housing allowance, a car allowance of perhaps as much as $650 a month, and $300 a month to help defray the cost of “purchased technology.” Fernandez is also asking for 25 days paid vacation each year, and 20 days of accruable sick leave annually.

Also to be provided is an automatic 2 percent increase in the basic compensation package each year upon satisfactory evaluation of the superintendent’s performance. And Fernandez is asking GEB to make an annual 5 percent employer’s contribution to a supplemental retirement plan which would “vest immediately.”

There are other provisions under negotiation as well, and most seem reasonable and justifiable in the process of hiring a chief executive officer for the government of Guam’s largest line agency. The problem is, the Guam Education Board may not have the legal authority to go beyond the salary that was included in the original announcement advertising the position.

If Fernandez were being hired as president of the University of Guam, the UOG Board of Regents would clearly be able to negotiate whatever compensation and benefits package they believe they must offer to attract the right candidate. UOG is an autonomous entity which, in fact, generates much of its own income through tuition, fees and donations to its endowment fund.

The Guam Department of Education is a different story. While the hybrid education board has a certain amount of authority and perhaps even autonomy, all of the employees of the department it oversees, including its superintendent, are line employees of the government of Guam. Negotiating special benefits into a contract for that superintendent might cause others who applied for the job to complain, and have a possible legal basis for challenging the selection.

Had GEB put a phrase such as “other terms and conditions to be negotiated” in their announcement, they might be better able to justify the additional financial terms. But the position advertisement simply stated the salary – $125,000 per annum. The agreement being considered this morning for Jon Fernandez is quite a bit more expensive than that. We hope the board members and Mr. Fernandez can come up with a win-win for Guam.