School Board Votes To Double Its Pay

On June 27, the Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees voted itself a 100 percent pay increase as an amendment to the budget. This item passed on a 4-3 vote with Trustees Addonizio, Bryson and Palazzo dissenting. If this wasn't stunning enough, Trustee Alpay teed up the vote declaring he had crafted the amendment so the Trustees would share in the sacrifice of pay cuts in this time of austerity.

Under the budget recently adopted, the Board will take a 1.2 percent pay cut for the 2012 budget year. This equates to approximately $50 a year. Their pay will immediately double at the end of the budget year. Yes, they will get a 100 percent increase for a temporary reduction that barely buys you a tank of gas.

So how did Trustees Alpay, Pritchard, Hatton and Brick do it? Alpay's amendment to the budget calls for the Board to take a pay cut equal to that of the teachers, which is the 1.2 percent. It will then revert to the dollar amount pursuant to Board Policy 9250A, which references the Education Code.

School district pay limits are set by the Education Code and is based on the district's average daily attendance. The Board can lower its pay but can't raise it beyond the limit established by law.

The last Board of Trustees accepted a 50 percent decrease in its compensation. But Alpay's amendment restored the pay to the maximum amount allowed by the Education Code.

Regrettably, this was all done after the end of the school year when few are paying attention to school board politics.

The amount of money involved is small compared to the overall budget of a school district the size of CUSD.  However, it could have funded one part-time classified employee. To that person, who would have otherwise lost his or her job, the amount is large.

It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to give yourself a raise in these tough times. Telling parents it's a pay cut takes it to a whole new level.