Jacksonville Republican Steven Wise yesterday announced a proposal to cut school board member salaries to make them commensurate to the salaries of part-time legislators like himself – to $29,000 a year.
It's not a new proposal, as Wise proposed the same idea last year.
At the time, the Lakeland Ledger weighed in on the merits, admitting that in some states, school board members don't draw any salary. But it also noted that in some of those states, they had trouble recruiting people to get involved with their local school boards:
The salaries and benefits paid to Florida school board members – and other elected officials who serve in an advisory or legislative capacity – could and probably should be reviewed.
The financial problems facing Florida's educational system are far greater and more systemic than school board members' salaries. They demand a setting of priorities and a willingness by lawmakers and taxpayers alike to adequately fund schools. They demand that legislators pursue serious efforts to cut costs and increase revenues through such obvious means as increasing the cigarette tax and the removal of unwarranted sales' tax exemptions.
If Florida is to move past this fiscal crisis and build a broad-based economy, it will have to invest in an education system that is responsive, efficient and accountable – regardless of what school board members are paid.
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2010.