…you see a headline on social media that you just swear has to be from Babylon Bee, but it’s not:
St. Paul school board members aren’t paid enough, St. Paul school board members say
But sure enough, it’s a real story. Or as real as the mainstream media gets, anyway.
Of course, they preside over a crumbling district with one of the worst achievement gaps in the country, on a board that serves mostly as a DFL farm team.
But it’s all about keeping up with the Joneses:
Board members get $10,800 per year, which is less than what comparably sized metro districts pay. However, members are eligible for district health insurance; those who sign up get a premium subsidy that’s worth $9,643 this year.
Jon Schumacher and Mary Vanderwert, who are leaving the board next year after serving one four-year term, gave the strongest endorsements for a raise at a meeting Wednesday evening.
“I feel very strongly that there really does need to be an increase so we can make sure that we have people who have passion, who have expertise and who aren’t going to feel that serving on this board is going to make it impossible for them to meet their financial needs,” Schumacher said.
Vanderwert suggested a salary increase of $5,000 or more.
“I definitely think it’s time for us to do this,” she said. “It’s the most important work a community does, and the board positions need to be attractive to high-quality people.”
Full (but unneeded) disclosure – I worked with Mary Vanderwert a loooong time ago. Perfectly fine human being, although there’s that whole “SPPS School Board member” thing.
Did I mention the Joneses?
…Anoka-Hennepin, pays between $14,400 and $15,600, depending on the board member’s role, human resources director Laurin Cathey said.
Minneapolis, the third-largest district, pays $22,000.
Most board members make $9,000 in Osseo, $7,236 in St. Cloud, $7,200 in Bloomington and $5,000 in Brooklyn Center, Cathey said.
Cathey also looked at St. Paul’s national peers and found school board members receive no pay in either Des Moines, Iowa, or Portland, Ore.
I wondered if they bothered comparing school board pay to graduation rates, minority achievement or percent of students who need remedial classes in college?
And maybe correlate that with ideological distribution of the school board’s members?
Hmmmmm.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Vanderwert suggested a salary increase of $5,000 or more.
So $16k plus 10k in medical insurance would be enough “to meet their financial needs”. Is this supposed to be a full-time job? Like resign from a real job to do this? Or perhaps retire and then do this? Or live off of the spouse’s salary to pretend to be doing important work – *the* most important work – in the “community”?
I expect the $15/hour grift to be the next demand.
I’m curious to know how many hours per week the school board must work to run the district. Don’t they have professional staff for that? Don’t they have a superintendent, assistant superintendent, principals, administrators, administrative assistants, assistants to the administrative assistants . . . what’s left for school board members to do, aside from attend occasional meetings?
I wonder if they don’t already make $15.00 an hour.
The fact that other districts are wildly overpaying their board members doesn’t mean we should. If all your friends jumped off the roof . . . .
If they want to make some real money, the board members should just quit and get one of those sweetheart going-away packages the superintendents get.
I wondered if they bothered comparing school board pay to graduation rates, minority achievement or percent of students who need remedial classes in college?
Personally, I think the school board is far too removed to address or even assist in addressing these issues. These are parental issues and – dare I say? – cultural issues.
We’d be better off using these educational grants to build more jails to hold the truants and reprobates until they burn through their youthful stupidity. Give them the option of getting a high school education if they so desire. Heck, maybe even take some college classes if they’re so inclined. Or better yet, some vocational training. But get them out of the schools so the children with real parents and a real culture can get an education.
… OK and replace about half the teaching staff too. Maybe bring in some people who actually know about the subjects.
Threadjack. Man these guys are good: Snopes Strikes Deal With Netflix To Provide On-Screen Fact Checks Of Fictional Shows, Movies
“Is this supposed to be a full-time job? Like resign from a real job to do this?”
No, but a lot of them do it anyway. Gives them the time to work on their campaigns for higher office.
Al Oertwig was living in his district office for awhile…until he got caught looking at homoe kiddy Pr0n at the library.
https://www.twincities.com/2007/04/11/oertwig-quits-school-board-amid-porn-claims/
I must edit that last accusation. Oertwig was *accused* of watching homoe kiddy Pr0n. Further investigation suggested he was watching adult homoes playing kiddies.
The truth is always bad enough with these degenerates; no need to embellish.