A decision Thursday could make the Arlington School Board the highest paid school board in Virginia, earning $7,000 more than their counterparts in surrounding counties.
At their Jan. 22 meeting, School Board members are set to vote on a motion raising annual salaries for regular Board members from $12,000 to $19,500, and raising the chair’s salary from $13,100 to $21,500.
In addition, School Board members asked Arlington’s General Assembly delegation to introduce legislation this session that would allow Virginia school systems to extend benefits like health insurance and 401K access to School Board members. Currently, such benefits are available to county Supervisors and Board members, but not to School Board members.
That request, alongside the salary request, could move toward professionalizing the position of School Board member, seen as a part-time pursuit in Virginia rather than a full-time job.
Board members and some School Board watchers say the salary increase is well deserved. But one Board member criticized the move as making the part-time Board more professional.
“I don’t want us to see these become full-time jobs,” said David Foster. “I prefer to find ways to allow people with full-time jobs to serve on school boards.”
But the salary increase, and the possibility of health insurance, could be just the way to attract possible candidates for School Board, said schools superintendent Robert Smith. “This may be enough to allow somebody who cannot take on these additional responsibilities consider it,” he said. “It would compensate for some of that time.”
<b>IN HIS PROPOSAL</b> to increase board salaries, Smith noted that County Board members make $27,937 a year, and the County Board chair earns an annual salary of $30,731.
“I don’t think the County Board members work any harder than the School Board,” said Beth Wolffe, a regular attendee of School Board meetings and a member of the School Budget committee for the Arlington Civic Federation. In 2002, she ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat current Board member Mary Hynes.
“I think raising the pay for School Board members is a good idea,” said Wolffe. “The salary is so low, it may be a bar to some candidates.”
But Board members need to earn their raise, she said. “I wish, if they give themselves this raise, they would do what private industry does, and give themselves incentives [by cutting] in other places. I don’t see the board doing serious evaluations to see what’s working.”
<b>OTHER AREA SCHOOL</b> systems pay their Board members roughly the same salaries as Arlington does currently.
With the increase, Arlington would pay its School Board members about 65 percent more than other local systems. “Part of the reasoning is, it’s done every four years, so if we don’t do it now, we won’t be able to for four years,” said Smith. “I don’t anticipate that we’ll be that far above them for long.”
But there are few signs of such an increase coming to the current boards in either Fairfax or Loudoun counties. “Our board cannot raise its own salaries,” said Wayde Byard, spokesman for Loudoun County Public Schools. “They just came on the board on Jan. 1, so they can only raise the salary for the board that will come on Jan. 1, 2008.”
The same rule applies in Fairfax, said spokeswoman Mary Shaw: board members can only increase the salaries of board members in 2008. What’s more, Shaw said, she wished it were true in Arlington. “I live in Arlington, and I’m not real excited, personally, about the way they’re doing it over there now.”
<b>VIRGINIA LAW ALLOWS</b> salaries for School Board members as high as $25,000, or $27,000 for School Board chairs.
“If we’re paying them for their time, it’s a pittance,” said Smith. “I don’t think any of them are serving for the money.”
Both Foster and Board member Libby Garvey said that they, and other board members, spend between eight and 40 hours a week on board business.
“As chair, you spend a lot more,” said Garvey. “My husband would tell you I spent 20-40 hours on it, and it’s a 24/7 thing. I might run to the grocery store, and people would stop me there, or call me at home. You’re sort of on-call all the time.”
Foster acknowledged the demands of the job. But an across the board salary increase isn’t the solution, he said. “I think it would be more helpful to have staff assistants, than a few thousand dollars after taxes,” he said. “I would favor giving board members the option, instead of salary, to employ an assistant.”
Each County Board member has a full-time assistant working for them, with salaries for that position ranging from $35,000 to $55,000, although County Board Clerk Toni Copeland notes that those positions are relatively new.