BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Legislature's joint budget committee refused Thursday to approve a new contract for state Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek -- which contains a $56,000 pay increase -- until they get more details about how Pastorek's work will be graded.

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State Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek

Lawmakers told the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education that they wanted those specifics included in Pastorek's contract, before they granted a pay raise that would make him the top paid state education superintendent in the South. Then, they agreed without objection to reject the contract until BESE provides more information.

If the four-year contract is approved, Pastorek's pay package would be $355,611 this year, up from $299,249. It would include a $271,611 base salary, $54,000 housing allowance and $30,000 car allowance.

And the compensation could grow up to 6 percent annually if BESE gives him a positive job evaluation. By July 1, 2011, Pastorek could bring in $448,951 a year.

Several legislators bristled at the contract's price tag. Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, chairman of the joint budget committee, called it "an excessive salary" and said it seemed too soon to give Pastorek such a large raise since he's only been on the job for one year.

"From our standpoint, it's very difficult to justify a raise, a $50,000 raise, on top of that a housing and car allowance ... when there's been no time to evaluate what he's done," Michot said. Pastorek, a New Orleans lawyer and former general counsel for NASA, said he won't stay in the job without the pay raise.

"This is what it will take to keep me here. And listen, if it doesn't work out, you know, I have another place I can go. I have another job I can go to," he said, noting he could return to his legal work.

The average education superintendent in the South earns a base salary of $175,416 -- nearly $100,000 less than Pastorek's proposed base pay -- and oversee more schools and students, according to a list provided by budget committee analysts.

BESE President Linda Johnson said Pastorek's job duties go beyond the traditional requirements of a state superintendent. She said Pastorek oversees schools taken over by the state, including the Recovery School District schools in New Orleans, and oversees the rebuilding of school systems devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita more than two years ago.

By law, BESE negotiates the contract, but the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget must approve it. However, BESE started paying Pastorek the new salary in February, a point that prompted complaints from lawmakers, who said the contract shouldn't begin until the budget committee agrees to it.

"Were you familiar with the correct procedure?" asked Rep. Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, vice chairman of the budget panel.

Pastorek began the superintendent's job in March 2007.

He started with a salary larger than his predecessor, Cecil Picard, who died in February 2007 after a decade as superintendent. Picard earned $264,702 annually with his housing and car allowances included, and he had annual 6 percent pay hike depending on positive evaluations.

Louisiana's education superintendent oversees 69 public school districts, with more than 1,500 schools and 654,000 students.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)