Modesto City Schools Board of Education votes to give itself over 290% pay raise
The Modesto City Schools Board of Trustees approved the first reading of a new bylaw compensating trustees with a $3,000 monthly stipend. Previously, the allotted monthly stipend was $765.
During the board’s June 8 meeting, Trustees Cindy Marks and Adolfo Lopez voted against the raise of more than 290%. The bylaw is expected to be officially approved after a second reading at the board’s June 22 meeting. Lopez and Marks both felt that a jump from $765 to $3,000 a month was too much.
“For me, that big jump from $765 to $3,000 is one that I’m not sure I can wrestle with,” Lopez said. “My suggestion would be that we start off somewhere between the ballpark of $1,000 [to] $1,200 as a next step, just because I understand the realities, but I also understand the moment that we’re living through in this district and I want to ensure that we do it in a manner where we’re growing and we’re collaborating and that we have full support.”
The bump follows state legislation approved in January that for the first time since 1984 increased the maximum compensation from $750 for a district the size of MCS for those serving on any board of education. Trustee Abel Maestas pointed out the stipend had not been adjusted for inflation in 40 years.
“The weight of the dollar from the last time [the compensation was updated], the amount, it’s about the same percentage as you would see in an increase over those 40-year times based on inflation and how much the dollar is worth,” Maestas said.
For a district the size of Modesto City Schools, the maximum compensation allowed by Assembly Bill 1390 is $3,000 a month. Trustees who miss a meeting will not be compensated unless they were absent in order to complete performing district services. There are seven trustees: President Homero Mejia, Vice President Jolene Daly and Trustees John Ervin III, Chad Brown, Abel Maestas, Lopez and Marks.
“At this point, I say that we’re on 24/7,” Daly said. “Because we can get phone calls at any point, we make 30 cents an hour right now. If you calculate a 40-hour week, we make $4.68 an hour right now. And granted, this position, I don’t think any of us on the board went into this position looking to make money. However, we are here. It’s 9:30 at night.”
Trustees are expected to attend Board of Education meetings, held once every three weeks, where they vote on resolutions that shape the rules governing the district and the welfare of its students and staff. They also attend district events, negotiate labor agreements, serve on committees to examine new efforts within the district and attend conferences related to different issues or innovations the district is considering.
According to the California School Boards Association, the board of trustees, as an elected body of citizens, helps provide oversight and ensure accountability among school districts. Each trustee serves a four-year term, and the position has no term limit.
“As I look at all that’s going on in our district right now with our negotiations, the teachers union and just the difficulty of the conversations that are happening, I just, I think the timing is not a good time,” Marks said of the stipend increase.
The district has been in negotiations with the Modesto Teachers Association since last fall, with MTA members asking for a higher district contribution toward their healthcare.
Ervin said that the stipend is an issue of equity. “My rationale or reasoning is we don’t realize also how much comes out of our own pocket above and beyond what we receive in compensation. And it is a travesty that it has taken 40 years to make the adjustments to where we are now,” Ervin said. “Nobody else would be happy with a 40-year drought in compensation.”
