I have heard many people complain about schooling issues, mainly
money. Can I ask how much do we pay the board members? And
why are they getting paid at all, this should be a voluntary position
and only be allowed to be filled by parents with children in the
public school system. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s a start.
Could maybe hire another teacher or two with the savings.
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“Can I ask how much do we pay the board members? ”
Sure, you can ask. That’s public information. Those are public servants, and you’re part of the public, right?
I can save you the cost of the phone call, since you’re tight-budget minded. School Board members get $20 per meeting, $35 if the meeting runs over 2 hours. The board Chairman gets $100 for running the meeting. The President of the Board gets $300 annually. Each of the other officers, (Vice-Pres, Secretary, Treasurer) gets $200 annually.
Based on experience, and figuring in travel time, setup, preparation, document review, interviewing, requests for clarification, etc., I figure the average Antigo School Board member makes about $0.65 per hour, putting in about 300 to 450 hours per year on the job. Take away all the money paid to the board in a year, and you could buy maybe two weeks’ of a qualified teacher’s instructional time.
Make the position voluntary? Heck, it already IS voluntary, for all practical purposes. How do you figure running the business of educating our children should be done without compensation? Would YOU work for free?
Require that board members have children in the public school system? How many board members do you think DON’T have children in the school system? Besides, educating children benefits the entire community, not just those with children. Otherwise you could require that only families with children should pay taxes to support schools, only arsonists should pay for the fire department, and only criminals should pay for the police.
Good education leads to citizens with a good understanding of how society and government work. You get what you pay for….
The school board members also have to deal with phone calls, letters, & emails at home. They also have to handle ignorant questions in grocery stores, restaurants and gas stations for people that are too lazy to go to meetings and go by hearsay rather than facts. It can become very stressful and they have to make a lot of tough decisions, like choosing which schools to close. Parent or not, you can still be involved by going to meetings and voting for members.
Why put tougher restrictions on who becomes a member of the school board? We already have restrictions its called “voting”. May the best “man” or “woman” win.
As far as County Board, Town board, School Board, Alderman, Mayor.. There is a lot of undocumented work involved. Phone calls 24/7, meetings, out of town meetings, campaign costs.. Its not an easy ride.
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