Bill would boost L.A. school board pay 650%
Sacramento Bee 2/18/07
Pending legislation could shatter that tradition in the state's largest school district.
A Southern California assemblyman has proposed giving the Los Angeles Unified School District's governing board authority to declare itself full time and raise its salary by more than 650 percent -- from $25,092 to $171,648.
The measure would allow school board salaries to be tied to those of Los Angeles City Council members, whose pay rises automatically with that of Superior Court judges.
Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, D-Compton, said his proposal simply recognizes the obvious in a district with more than 700,000 students, a multibillion-dollar budget, and problems ranging from gangs to absenteeism to low student achievement.
"It's actually a full-time job now," he said.
But Lew Uhler, president of the National Tax Limitation Committee, said a sixfold pay increase is ludicrous.
"I think it's a travesty to the taxpayers, to the schoolchildren and to their parents," Uhler said of the measure.
Passage of Assembly Bill 68 would allow Los Angeles school board members to receive a salary higher than California's lieutenant governor, treasurer, controller or secretary of state -- and roughly $58,550 more than legislators' base salary, not counting per diem.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger currently qualifies for the highest pay of any California elected official, $206,500, but he does not accept a state paycheck.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell receives $175,525. Through spokeswoman Hilary McLean, O'Connell declined comment on Dymally's bill, saying that his office does not set school board pay.
California's education code currently limits school board pay in the state's largest districts to $2,000 per month, adjusted for inflation.
Dymally's bill proposes to amend the salary cap solely for districts serving more than 500,000 students, which means only Los Angeles.
No date has been set for a legislative hearing on AB 68. The California School Boards Association has taken no position.
Dymally said he is willing to consider lowering his bill's permissible salary, but he wants to retain the notion of full-time status and full-time pay.
By comparison, Sacramento County's three largest unified school districts -- Elk Grove, San Juan and Sacramento -- pay $9,000 per year.
AB 68 also would set a staffing level for school districts statewide in the hiring of counselors, librarians, paraprofessionals and nurses.
Dymally's legislation is not the first attempt to hike Los Angeles board pay.
Measure L, on the March 6 ballot, would limit Los Angeles school board members to three terms and create a review committee to set salaries every five years, among other changes.
Measure L conceivably could result in raising school board salaries above the state limit. Because Los Angeles is a charter city, voters can set a local pay standard, if they desire.
Former Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, a Los Angeles Democrat who was termed out last year, proposed unsuccessful legislation last year that would have permitted LAUSD trustees to declare their intent to serve either as part-timers or full-timers -- and to be paid accordingly, with salaries set by the county Board of Supervisors.
Goldberg, who served on the L.A. school board from 1983-91, said pay was so low that she mortgaged her home three times to make ends meet.
"The truth of the matter is, you need to work full time when you start talking about multibillion-dollar budgets," she said. "You get what you pay for."
Assemblyman Gene Mullin, a South San Francisco Democrat who chairs the Assembly Education Committee, said a pay hike of some amount could allow more people of modest means to seek office.
But Assemblyman Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, called a sixfold increase "gargantuan."
"They've got a lot of problems and that's the least of their concerns right now, trying to up the ante on what they're getting paid," Huff said of the seven-member Los Angeles school board.
Members of the Los Angeles board have mixed feelings.
"(School board) is a position that deserves to have at least equal status to trimming trees and filling potholes," said Julie Korenstein, who holds no other job.
Jon Lauritzen, a retired teacher now serving on the board, said full-time pay would allow working colleagues to dedicate their days to studying district issues and meeting with constituents, rather than having to squeeze such activities into nights and weekends.
But David Tokofsky, a teacher before joining the board, said he would not like to see pay become a magnet for professional politicians.
Rather than increase pay substantially, Tokofsky would like to see school trustees become eligible for state pensions, which he said would encourage longtime service. Members currently receive medical, dental and vision benefits.
AB 68 could result in the highest pay going to one of the state's lowest-performing major districts, serving a population that is largely minority and low income.
Test scores showed that 38 percent of LAUSD students were proficient in mathematics and 32 percent in language arts in 2005-06.