LAUSD Board Member Salaries Nearly Tripled To $125,000

A city commission voted Monday to give members of the LAUSD Board of Education an annual salary of $125,000, a 174% bump from their previous yearly salary of $45,637, reports the L.A. Times. The figures apply to board members who have no other outside income. For members working other jobs, the salary is now capped at $50,000 a year, a raise from the previous figure of $26,437.

“It’s very obvious how much hard work the school board members put in day in and day out,” committee member Efren Martinez told the Times on Monday.

"Our board members work hard to set policies that will keep the District on track toward our goal of 100 percent graduation. The multitude of decisions we make have transformative impacts for decades to come," Board President Ref Rodriguez said in a statement. "We thank the LAUSD Board of Education Compensation Review Committee for engaging in a thoughtful and comprehensive process that ultimately supports our continued efforts on behalf of the students, families and school communities we serve."

The committee was formed as a part of Charter Measure L, which was approved by voters in 2007. As noted at Los Angeles Daily News, the committee is a seven-person board with two members appointed by the Los Angeles City Council president, two by the Los Angeles mayor, one by the Board of Supervisors chair, and one by the mayors of the two clusters of non-Los Angeles cities in the district. The mayors of Carson, Gardena, Lomita, Monterey Park, San Fernando and West Hollywood jointly appoint one member as well.

The committee meets every five years to review compensation and benefits for board members. The last time the committee had convened—in 2012—the group voted to make no changes to the salaries (the Times suggests that a bad economy had factored in their decision). Before that—in 2007—the committee voted to boost the salaries of board members from roughly $26,000 to nearly $46,000; this only applied to board members who agreed to refrain from working other jobs. The $46,000 figure was meant to be comparable to the salary of a starting teacher in the LAUSD. The 2007 raise was the first major salary bump that board members had received since 1984, reports an earlier Times story.

As noted at the Times, a first-year teacher in the LAUSD earns at least $50,368, while the average teaching salary is $75,350. Principals can earn up to $138,000. Superintendent Michelle King, who received a contract extension last month, makes $350,000 a year.