The Templeton Unified School District board has unanimously approved a $150,000 annual salary in a finalized contract for its new superintendent.

Joe Koski is set to take the post today.

His contract runs through June 30, 2014, and could be extended based on his performance, according to the terms of the agreement.

He will also receive a 4 percent stipend when he receives his doctorate and has 3 percent raises built in for the next two school years if his performance is deemed satisfactory, according to the document approved Thursday.

Koski will also receive $350 per month for non-reimbursed business expenses.

The board began a search for a permanent superintendent last fall, after Superintendent Deborah Bowers stepped down in late June.

Jean Burns Slater has been interim superintendent for the 2010-11 school year. Afterward, she will return to retirement.

The district received 38 applications for the leadership role, whittled down the choices to a top few and made its selection via interview.

Koski comes to Templeton after a 23-year career in a school district in Nuevo, a rural community in Riverside County.

He was assistant superintendent of educational services for the Nuview Union School District since 2007, where he managed the day-to-day operations of two elementary schools, a middle school, a charter high school and an early-childhood program.

The Templeton school district has two elementary schools, a middle school, a high school and alternative education programs.

Koski received a master’s degree in school leadership from Cal State San Bernardino in 2002 and completed a doctoral program in organizational leadership from the University of La Verne.

He expects to defend his completed dissertation this spring.