N.J. may probe big severance deals

TRENTON - Gov. Corzine's administration may scour school superintendent contracts to see whether any provide hefty severance packages.

Corzine said yesterday that he would probably ask state-appointed county school superintendents to see whether other contracts resemble the one given Barbara Trzeszkowski in Keansburg, Monmouth County.

Trzeszkowski is retiring with a $740,000 severance package from the district, which has received heavy state funding because it's among the poorest in New Jersey.

The Trzeszkowski package provoked outrage from lawmakers, and Corzine authorized state education officials to seek a court injunction blocking it.

Under the package, Trzeszkowski is due pay for unused sick days and vacation on top of one month's salary for each of the nearly 40 years she worked.

Corzine said his administration would look at "every possible way" to halt the payout. He said that he hoped litigation would not be necessary, but that the severance package "doesn't seem like an appropriate expenditure of taxpayer dollars when dollars for schools are scarce."

Corzine said a judge would decide "whether the case that the attorney general will make is appropriate in the context of whether this is proper reflection of education policy" in the state.

"It could be that it was not put in place appropriately," he said. "We'll look at all the details."