Saying careful planning could help school districts avoid costly buyouts of administrators, state Auditor General Jack Wagner yesterday urged the Pittsburgh school board to amend its contract with Superintendent Mark Roosevelt to specify the compensation he'd receive if he were to leave the district prematurely.

Mr. Wagner's audit noted that the board had authorized more than $363,000 in termination agreements with two other administrators since 2005, and said it should nail down early-exit terms with Mr. Roosevelt, just in case.

The contract lists grounds for firing Mr. Roosevelt "but does not explain how a contract buyout would be calculated," said the audit, which examined various school district operations dating to 2001.

"The time to negotiate these terms is at the outset of the employment relationship, not when matters turn potentially hostile between the parties," the audit said, adding, "It is our position that buyouts can be averted, or their cost significantly reduced, if school districts" spelled out termination pay in contracts.

School district chief of staff Lisa Fischetti defended Mr. Roosevelt's contract, saying it would be difficult for a district to recruit a superintendent and negotiate his termination at the same time.

Ironically, Mr. Wagner's suggestion comes as the Pittsburgh school board works on a contract extension for Mr. Roosevelt. His three-year agreement expires in August 2008, and a majority of board members wants to keep him here longer to continue working on an academic turnaround.

Board members had prided themselves on the contract, saying it's done a better job than most agreements at holding a superintendent accountable for performance.

Board member Patrick Dowd yesterday said he remained focused on the performance aspect of Mr. Roosevelt's contract but would be willing to consider suggestions for improving the agreement in other ways. He cautioned that a dispute over termination pay would be possible no matter how specific contract language on the subject might be.

Previous city school Superintendent John Thompson's contract included a formula for calculating termination pay, yet the numbers remained in flux even after the board handed him his walking papers in February 2005, 4¹/₂ months before his contract was due to expire.

Dr. Thompson's buyout totaled $150,165, the audit found. That was $16,000 more than reported at the time.

In October, 10 months after Lynn Spampinato joined the district as deputy superintendent, Mr. Roosevelt put her on paid leave without public explanation.

The board later voted to pay Dr. Spampinato $213,000 to give up her post and perform unspecified work as a consultant. Her contract said only that if terminated before the end of her three-year contract, she would be entitled to "accrued pay and benefits."

"This consulting agreement may represent another example of a costly employment contract buyout that could have been avoided had the employment contract contained adequate termination provisions," the audit said.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association wasn't able yesterday to say how common it is for a superintendent's contract to include detailed language on termination pay. In 2005, Mr. Wagner criticized the Mt. Lebanon School District's negotiated $500,000 buyout of former Superintendent Margery Sable's contract.

The audit also said the Pittsburgh district undercounted by 572 the number of nonpublic school students it provided transportation to during the 2003-04 school year, and so missed $220,000 in reimbursement from the state Education Department. The auditor general's office said it now expected the state to give the district the money.