§115C-272. Residence, oath of office, and salary of superintendent

(a)        Every superintendent shall reside in the county in which he is employed. The superintendent shall not teach, nor be regularly employed in any other capacity that may limit or interfere with his duties as superintendent. Each superintendent, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take an oath for the faithful performance thereof. The salary of the superintendent shall be in accordance with a State standard salary schedule, fixed and determined by the State Board of Education as provided by law; and such salary schedule for superintendents shall be determined on the same basis for both county and city superintendents and shall take into consideration the amount of work inherent to the office of both county and city superintendents; and such schedule shall be published in the same way and manner as the schedules for teacher and principal salaries are now published.

(b)        Superintendents shall be paid promptly when their salaries are due provided the legal requirements for their employment and service have been met. All superintendents employed by any local school administrative unit who are paid from local funds shall be paid promptly as provided by law and as State allotted superintendents are paid. Superintendents paid from State funds shall be paid as follows:

(1)        Each local board of education shall establish a set date on which monthly salary payments to superintendents shall be made. This set pay date may differ from the end of the calendar month of service. Superintendents shall only be paid for the days employed as of the set pay date. Payment for a full month when days employed are less than a full month is prohibited as this constitutes prepayment. The daily rate of pay shall equal the number of weekdays in the pay period. Included within their term of employment shall be annual vacation leave at the same rate provided for State employees. Included within the 12 months' employment each local board of education shall designate the same or an equivalent number of legal holidays as those designated by the State Human Resources Commission for State employees.

(2)        Notwithstanding any provisions of this section to the contrary no person shall be entitled to pay for any vacation day not earned by that person. Vacation days shall not be used for extending the term of employment of individuals and shall not be cumulative from one fiscal year to another fiscal year: Provided, that superintendents may accumulate annual vacation leave days as follows: annual leave may be accumulated without any applicable maximum until June 30 of each year. On June 30 of each year, any superintendent with more than 30 days of accumulated leave shall have the excess accumulation converted to sick leave so that only 30 days are carried forward to July 1 of the same year. All vacation leave taken by the superintendent will be upon the authorization of his immediate supervisor and under policies established by the local board of education. An employee shall be paid in a lump sum for accumulated annual leave not to exceed a maximum of 240 hours or 30 days when separated from service due to resignation, dismissal, reduction in force, death, or service retirement. Upon separation from service due to service retirement, any annual vacation leave over 30 days will convert to sick leave and may be used for creditable service at retirement in accordance with G.S. 135-4(e). If the last day of terminal leave falls on the last workday in the month, payment shall be made for the remaining nonworkdays in that month. Employees retiring on disability retirement may exhaust annual leave rather than be paid in a lump sum. The provisions of this subdivision shall be accomplished without additional State and local funds being appropriated for this purpose. The State Board of Education shall adopt rules and regulations for the administration of this subdivision.

(3)        Each local board of education shall sustain any loss by reason of an overpayment to any superintendent paid from State funds.

(4)        All of the foregoing provisions of this section shall be subject to the requirement that at least fifty dollars ($50.00), or other minimum amount required by federal social security laws, of the compensation of each school employee covered by the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System or otherwise eligible for social security coverage shall be paid in each of the four quarters of the calendar year.

(c)        The State Board of Education, in fixing the State standard salary schedule of superintendents as authorized by law, shall provide that superintendents who entered the armed or auxiliary forces of the United States after September 16, 1940, and who left their positions for such service, shall be allowed experience increments for the period of such service as though the same had not been interrupted thereby, in the event such persons return to the position of teachers, principals or superintendents in the public schools of the State after having been honorably discharged from the armed or auxiliary forces of the United States.

(1955, c. 1372, art. 6, s. 1; art. 17, s. 9; art. 18, s. 6; 1961, c. 1085; 1971, c. 1052; 1973, c. 647, s. 1; 1975, cc. 383, 608; c. 834, ss. 1, 2; 1979, c. 600, ss. 1-5; 1981, c. 423, s. 1; c. 946, s. 1; 1983, c. 872, s. 1; 1985, c. 757, s. 145(c); 1985 (Reg. Sess., 1986), c. 975, s. 15; 1987, c. 414, s. 4; 1989 (Reg. Sess., 1990), c. 1066, s. 93; 1993, c. 321, s. 73(a); 1995, c. 450, s. 17; 1997-443, s. 8.38(f); 1999-237, s. 28.26(c); 2013-382, s. 9.1(c).)