Pleasanton Unified School District trustees are scheduled to consider raising their own pay on Thursday, Oct. 22, reviving a proposal that a district committee shelved in June after residents objected.
Board members can currently receive a stipend of $463 a month, which they may decline. The Pleasanton Weekly reported Wednesday that the board will discuss, and may vote on, raising that amount to a maximum of $2,000 per month.
What the state law allows
Assembly Bill 1390 took effect Jan. 1 and raised the limit on what California school board members can be paid, the first change to that ceiling in over four decades, according to the Weekly. The new caps run from $600 to $4,500 a month, based on a district's enrollment, up from a previous range of $60 to $1,500.
For a district of Pleasanton Unified's size, the ceiling works out to about $2,000 a month, a June committee report said. The law sets a maximum but does not require any raise. The board could pick a lower figure or leave the stipend where it is. Boards may also add 5% a year, even when that pushes pay past the cap, the Weekly reported.
Lawmakers who backed the change said trustees put in long hours for what is treated as a part-time role, and that better pay would make it realistic for more people to run.
Pushback in June
The idea first came up at a June 4 meeting of the district's policy committee, where the board president had asked members to consider moving the stipend to $2,000. About a dozen people spoke, and most said a raise was the wrong move while the district deals with a structural deficit and recent budget cuts.
The district's budget received a negative certification from the county earlier this year.
