A recently completed state audit of the South Allegheny School District has revived a push by state Auditor General Jack Wagner for legislation placing limits on school superintendent contracts to protect districts from having to pay large buyouts.

The audit covered the school years ending June 30, 2003 and 2004 and "in certain areas extending beyond June 30, 2004," which includes the period of time during which the district bought out former Superintendent Patrick Risha at a cost of more than $375,000. Mr. Risha is currently the superintendent of the West Mifflin Area School District.

Mr. Wagner's audit report was released Sept. 22, four days after the South Allegheny school board accepted the resignation of current Superintendent Elaine Brown effective June 30, 2009, the end of her contract.

Dr. Brown's departure from the district does not include a financial buyout, said district spokeswoman Laura Thomson.

The South Allegheny board does not plan a formal candidate search for Dr. Brown's replacement, but instead plans to appoint as the new superintendent either Richard Fine, director of secondary education, or Wayne Gdovic, director of elementary education, Ms. Thomson said.

Mr. Wagner, in his report, made some recommendations to South Allegheny in negotiating the next superintendent's contract.

Among the recommendations is to enter into a three-year contract, the minimum permitted by the state school code for superintendents and to make sure that future contracts "contain adequate termination provisions" to protect the district's taxpayers in the event the superintendent leaves before the contract is up.

Those recommendations are similar to ones that Mr. Wagner made in an August 2005 audit report that covered the $500,000-plus buyout of former Mt. Lebanon Superintendent Margery Sable in November 2004.

Ms. Thomson said South Allegheny solicitor George Gobel indicated the district will take Mr. Wagner's recommendations into consideration when it hires a new superintendent.

In Mt. Lebanon, the contract of John Allison, who is in his second year on the job, limits any payment based on early termination to one year of base salary or the salary for the remainder of his contract, whichever is shorter.

Additionally, if Mr. Allison would get another job during that time, the payout would be prorated so that his total compensation wouldn't exceed his superintendent's salary, said Cissy Bowman, district spokeswoman.

Mr. Risha's contract buyout came just four months after school directors had extended his contract by another five years. The school directors who approved the extension had already lost their re-election bids at the time of the vote.

When new board members took over, they terminated Mr. Risha, and the buyout was hefty because of the extended contract.

The agreement included a cash settlement of $325,907 that included part of his salary, retirement incentive, unused vacation days and consideration for his eight years of service to the district.

In addition, the district provided Mr. Risha with health, dental, vision and life insurance through Sept. 17, 2015 and allowed him to transfer 33 accumulated sick and vacation days to his next place of employment.

Other costs incurred by the district as a result of the buyout included $48,000 to an acting superintendent who served from June 2004 to January 2005, the audit report said.

The auditor general's report also criticized South Allegheny for not disclosing the reason for Mr. Risha's termination other than to say it was by mutual agreement.

In Mt. Lebanon, Dr. Sable became superintendent in July 2003 and was awarded a five-year contract. But in November 2004, school directors and Dr. Sable agreed that she would leave her job and receive a buyout of more than $500,000.

Mt. Lebanon officials and Dr. Sable also agreed to keep the reason confidential and also were criticized by the auditor general in the August 2005 audit report by Mr. Wagner's office.

In October 2005, then-state Rep. Tom Stevenson, of Mt. Lebanon, sponsored legislation that included Mr. Wagner's recommendations. Mr. Stevenson proposed that the state school code be changed to limit severance for superintendents to six months compensation.

The proposal also called for changing the code to limit superintendent contracts to three years if the candidate has no previous experience as a superintendent or assistant superintendent.

The bill died when Mr. Stevenson was voted out of office.