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James Morse Sr., superintendent of SAD 47 in Oakland, will be paid $131,500 a year in Portland. “All indications are that he’s what Portland needs,” says the city school board chief.

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PORTLAND — The Portland School Committee will formally announce and vote tonight on its choice of James Morse Sr., superintendent of the Messalonskee School District in Oakland, to lead Maine's largest school district.

Morse, 54, is a Portland native who was nearly a high school dropout but went on to earn a doctorate, start a nationally recognized high school and receive Maine's 2008 Superintendent Leadership Award.

Committee members hope Morse can transfer his recipe for success to a district that's still struggling after a 2007 budget crisis and the subsequent resignations of its superintendent and business manager.

Morse said Tuesday that he's ready for the challenge.

"This is a dream job," he said. "Portland is where I grew up. This is my opportunity to reinvest in my hometown."

The School Committee will meet at 7 p.m. today in the City Council Chamber at Portland City Hall. The committee reached consensus on Morse's appointment and negotiated the terms of his employment in recent closed-door sessions, committee members said.

To attract Morse, the committee offered him a $131,500 annual salary, plus benefits, which is $16,000 more than the position's current salary of $115,318, plus benefits. At Messalonskee, where Morse has been superintendent for 13 years, his annual pay was $124,500, plus benefits.

The new Portland salary will make Morse the highest-paid public school superintendent in the state. Committee members say they are prepared to defend Morse's salary in the face of an economic recession.

"We decided as a committee that it's worth it," said Peter Eglinton, school board chairman. "All indications are that he's what Portland needs."

Eglinton said Morse brings a tremendous breadth of educational experience; strong administrative, financial and technical skills; a commitment to student success; and the drive to keep the district moving forward through tough economic times.

Morse will replace interim Superintendent Jeanne Whynot-Vickers, a former assistant superintendent who took the helm in September 2007. She replaced Mary Jo O'Connor, who resigned in August 2007 amid a $2 million budget crisis that also led the business manager, Richard Paulson, to leave.

Whynot-Vickers declined to seek the job permanently.

Morse is set to start in Portland on July 1. He will have a three-year contract, with a salary to be renegotiated each year. His job performance will be judged on a new, more detailed job description and may be linked to salary incentives in the future, Eglinton said.

Morse was chosen from two finalists, who were whittled from 10 applicants by an interview panel that included committee and community members. The other finalist was an out-of-state superintendent, whom the committee declined to name. Until now, the committee wouldn't identify any of the candidates, as allowed under Maine law.

Morse was the overwhelming favorite of the 20-member interview panel and is expected to win unanimous support tonight from the nine-member School Committee, said Sarah Thompson, a committee member who headed the superintendent search.

"He was always the front-runner for us," Thompson said.

She described Morse as a creative, forward-thinking and well-rounded educator and administrator who shares the committee's desire to make Portland schools the best in the state.

"We're not looking for someone to roll heads," Thompson said. "This is our opportunity to have someone look at how we do things with fresh eyes and tell us how we can do things better and with greater efficiency."

Morse will take on a much larger and more diverse school district than the one he currently oversees. Portland has 6,900 students and 1,300 employees in 10 elementary schools, three middle schools and four high schools.

About 21 percent of Portland's students are immigrants, or children of recent immigrants, who are...