School Board Member Compensation: A Comprehensive Overview
School boards, also known as boards of education, are the governing bodies of school districts. They play a vital role in shaping education policies, approving budgets, hiring superintendents, and engaging with the community. These behind-the-scenes heroes make decisions that ripple across entire communities, shaping education policies, budgets, and ultimately, student futures.
Roles and Responsibilities of School Board Members
School board members are lay representatives selected by the community to represent the concerns of citizens, taxpayers, and parents to school administrators. They also represent the needs of the students and school district to the community. The school board does not operate the district on a day-to-day basis; that is the job of the superintendent, who is the district’s chief executive.
Their responsibilities include:
- Setting policy that determines how schools operate, what’s taught, and how success is measured.
- Approving budgets that can range from a few million to hundreds of millions
- Hiring and evaluating the superintendent
- Engaging the community in decisions that affect kids, families, and teachers
- Ensuring equity across school programs, facilities, and outcomes
Compensation Landscape: From Volunteerism to Salary
The question of whether school board members should be compensated for their time and expertise has gained traction in recent years as districts contemplate how to develop more diverse slates of candidates for these influential seats.
The Predominance of Volunteerism
According to the National School Boards Association (NSBA), school board members are typically volunteers who receive no annual compensation. 75% of small-district school board members receive no salary. Many board members say their duties are equivalent to a full-time job.
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Stipends and Limited Compensation
Some school board members might receive a small stipend. Many states that do allow board members to be paid have an explicit cap on pay, whether it’s a set amount per meeting, defined daily pay, or a maximum annual salary. In some cases, the maximum pay is low. In Oklahoma, for example, the cap is $25 per board meeting for up to four meetings per month, and only for districts with an average daily attendance of at least 15,000. In Michigan, the cap is $30 per meeting for up to 52 meetings per year, which translates to a maximum of $1,560 annually. In Tennessee, school board members must be paid at least $4 per day of work.
Notable Exceptions: Higher Salaries
California is home to likely the highest paid school board members: In Los Angeles, board of education members receive an annual salary of $125,000 if they do not have other employment, and $50,000 if they hold another job. In Florida, state law set the annual salary for school board members at $42,570 in 2016.
State-Level Regulations and Legislation
Despite some momentum around the country to increase pay for local school board members-or to allow them to be compensated at all-at least 13 states explicitly ban the practice, according to an EdWeek analysis of state laws. In 2023 alone, two states-Kansas and Mississippi-codified school board compensation in state law, allowing members of local boards to receive pay for their work, according to the EdWeek analysis. Even the Denver board’s ability to pay its members was a recent development. The state law allowing school board members to be paid only passed in 2021. Lawmakers in Illinois are also considering a change to state law that would allow school board members in Chicago to be paid as the schools in that city shift from a fully mayor-appointed board to a fully elected one in the coming years.
Arguments for and Against Compensation
Arguments for Compensation
Advocates argue that the amount of time members spend working on board duties-preparing for and attending meetings, going to community events, and more-is evidence enough that they should be compensated. The Denver school board earlier this month voted 6-1 to approve a salary increase for future board members, from $8,250 to $33,000 per year, the maximum allowed under Colorado law. In doing so, a board member cited a need to “remove barriers that prevent a school board that looks like and reflects” the student body, Chalkbeat Colorado reported.
Arguments Against Compensation
No research has been conducted to test whether compensation is effective in attracting more diverse candidates or in improving board members’ ability to manage districts, according to education researchers.
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School Board Operations and Governance
Open Public Meetings Act
New Jersey’s Open Public Meetings Act (also known as the Sunshine Law) specifies nine areas that are to be discussed in “executive” or closed-door session. Among the most common are privacy issues (including employee privacy as well as matters dealing with individual students and student discipline); anticipated litigation and issues involving attorney-client privilege; negotiations with labor unions and negotiating strategy; matters involving the purchase of property; and any issues dealing with security that could undermine safety if made public.
Regulations and Policies
Statutes are the laws that are enacted by legislators in Trenton. Usually the law will contain broad language on an issue, and it will authorize the appropriate state agency (which would be the New Jersey Department of Education, or NJDOE, in the case of school law) to write regulations, also called “administrative code,” that detail how the law will be carried out. Local public schools must adhere to state statute and regulations. There are many aspects of school management that the state does not manage. Those are covered by the local school board’s policies, which are the school board’s rules and guidelines that detail how the district will operate. Policies address many issues ranging from student discipline and dress codes to whether the district will rent the gym to community groups after school hours.
New Jersey School Boards Association
The New Jersey School Boards Association is a service organization that provides training, assistance and advocacy for local school boards. However, NJSBA is not a state regulatory agency and does not have authority over local school districts.
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) is the state agency that regulates public schools. If a citizen has an issue that cannot be resolved by working up the chain of command locally, he or she can bring it to the attention of the NJDOE. The department has county offices run by “executive county superintendents,” and the county offices can often serve as an effective liaison between local residents and the NJDOE. Under the umbrella of the NJDOE is the School Ethics Commission, which hears cases involving conflicts of interest and possible violations of the School Ethics Act. The New Jersey State Board of Education has 13 members who are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the New Jersey State Senate. These members serve without compensation for six-year terms. The Commissioner of Education serves as both the secretary and as its official agent for all purposes. The State Board adopts the administrative code, which sets the rules needed to implement state education law. Such rules cover the supervision and governance of the state’s 2,500 public schools, which serve 1.4 million students. The State Board conducts public meetings in Trenton on the first Wednesday of each month. Proposed rules for education in the state are also published in the New Jersey Register.
Historical Context: New Jersey Statute 45:15B-8
In New Jersey, the compensation of board members has been addressed in the past through specific statutes. According to N.J. Statute 45:15B-8, each member of the board shall receive $50.00 for each day on which he is actually engaged in giving examinations, and $25.00 for each day actually employed in the discharge of his official duties, and in addition thereto all necessary expenses incurred by him in executing his functions under this act, upon certifying the same to the State Treasurer; provided, however, that total salaries of the board per year shall not exceed the amount appropriated by law for such year after payment or provision for payment of all costs or expenses other than such salaries. The compensation and expenses of the members of the board and the expenses of the board that are necessary to carry out the provisions of this act shall be paid by the State Treasurer from the fees collected under section 7; provided, that such compensation and expenses shall not exceed the amount so collected as fees. No additional employees shall be engaged in addition to the board itself. L.1940, c. 175, p. 537, s. 8. Amended by L.1969, c. 284, s. 3, eff. Jan.
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Public Input and Engagement
State law requires a public comment period at board meetings. Boards are allowed to establish reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of public comment. For instance, school boards typically set guidelines on the length of an individual’s comment (e.g., a certain amount of time per person), so no one person dominates the meeting. Comments from citizens generally go through the chair at the board meeting, usually the board president. Boards use the public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizen concerns, but not to debate issues or enter into a question-and-answer session or a “cross examination” between the public and individual members. Be aware that not all issues brought before a board meeting will be resolved that evening; boards may respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or his/her designee. While public education can be an emotional issue, and understandably so, the board will strive to maintain a certain level of decorum at the meeting. Many meetings are recorded or televised, and students often attend or participate in the meetings.
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