The Denver school board will vote Thursday night on whether board members should be paid, as allowed under a new state law passed six months ago.
Denver Public Schools would pay board members up to $150 per day for as many as five days per month — or $750 per month each — for attending regular or special school board meetings, committee meetings, training sessions, and “other activities approved in the future.” Board members are currently volunteers. They would have to request the pay, and board members could choose to forgo it.
Denver’s proposal is less than state law allows. Board members can legally get paid $150 per day up to five days per week, a total of about $3,000 per month each. In a tweet, Denver board member Tay Anderson called Denver’s proposal a compromise.
“We couldn’t get folks to agree on a higher number or more than five days,” he wrote.
Several Denver board members pushed back on the idea at a work session earlier this month. The strongest opposition came from outgoing member Barbara O’Brien, who said it’s “morally and ethically objectionable to be taking money out of the district budget to pay ourselves. It takes us down a wrong path and it’s another way to break faith with the public.”
Anderson, who testified in favor of the new law, was the most supportive. It can be hard to hold down a job and attend all the meetings and other functions required of school board members. Paying school board members would make it easier for more people to serve and increase diversity, Anderson said. By not offering pay, he said, “we are potentially gatekeeping and blocking access to this board.”
There are seven members on the Denver school board. Jim Carpenter, the district’s deputy superintendent of operations, said the proposal would cost about $50,000 next year and up to $90,000 in subsequent years. State law prohibits sitting board members from voting to pay themselves during their current term, so only newly elected or re-elected board members would be eligible for the compensation when the policy takes effect in January.
Three new board members — Scott Esserman, Michelle Quattlebaum, and Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán — are set to be sworn in later this month. Sitting board President Carrie Olson will be sworn in for a second term. She has said she’ll abstain from the vote on board member pay.
The school board in tiny Sheridan, just south of Denver, appears to be the first in Colorado to vote to allow its members to get paid under the new law. In contrast to Denver’s plan, Sheridan board members would not get paid for regular meetings but could get paid for attending a conference that requires them to be out of town and miss work.
Other school boards in Colorado, including in Aurora and Commerce City’s Adams 14 district, have discussed paying board members but have not voted on proposals.
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November 19, 2021 at 04:28AM
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Denver school board to vote on paying members - Chalkbeat Colorado
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