Severance Provisions

State of the Superintendency

Slightly fewer than a quarter of all superintendents responding to a 2014 AASA study reported having a severance clause in their employment agreement with the board of education.

Severance clauses in superintendent contracts are more than four times as prevalent in the employment agreements of those leading the largest enrollment districts (more than 25,000 students) than in the smallest (300 or fewer students). In the latter category, slightly more than one in 10 small-district superintendents had a severance provision.