By PAMELA GOULD

Spotsylvania County School Board members were unaware that their superintendent is the highest-paid local government manager in the Fredericksburg region.

But upon learning that, none of them questioned whether Jerry Hill's annual compensation package of $234,000 is justified.

"He is a very experienced and competent superintendent and I think his compensation package is fair," said Martin Wilder, the only member of the current School Board who was serving when Hill was hired.

"I can't say enough about him," said board Chairman Gil Seaux. "He's an individual that's worth every penny."

Wilder and Seaux noted that Hill's responsibilities include not only producing a high-quality education for the school division's 24,246 students, but also managing a host of duties similar to those that would come with running a large business.

Those duties involve overseeing the maintenance of 33 school buildings, a transportation division with 300 school buses, 1,300 acres of property, 3,197 employees and a $287 million budget that includes $113.8 million in local funding.

"The buck stops at his office," board member James Gillespie said.

"He's extremely qualified," said Amanda Blalock, who noted that since she joined the board last year she has had no input on Hill's salary.

Hill manages Spotsylvania County's largest employer. The second-largest employer--the county government--has about one-third as many employees as the school division.

School superintendents in general are well paid. The second- and third-biggest local government paychecks in the region go to the Fredericksburg and Stafford County school superintendents, whose compensation packages are $197,620 and $184,722, respectively.

Fredericksburg's superintendent oversees a much smaller system than Spotsylvania's, with four schools, about one-sixth the staff and fewer than one-eighth as many students. Stafford's system has 586 more employees and 2,415 more students than Spotsylvania's, but about the same number of schools--30.

Spotsylvania School Board member Donald Holmes said superintendent pay is a competitive issue regionally and nationally, but he did not know what others in the region paid their top managers.

"It's never been my intention that [Hill's] salary be greater or lesser than a particular position," he said.

SETTING SALARIES

Seaux noted that Hill's salary is for someone with nine years of service to Spotsylvania.