A study of whether Montgomery County school board members should get higher salaries is expected to begin soon.
During the 2018 state legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill authorizing a commission to study compensation for Montgomery County school board members. The bill was sponsored by Del. Eric Luedkte, a Democrat from Burtonsville, and it says the salary panel will revisit board salaries every four years.
The state legislature would have to approve any recommended adjustments.
The Montgomery County work group has not started, so its work will not be completed by the Sept. 1 deadline established in the bill.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich hopes to have the five-person work group confirmed by the County Council by the end of September, according to county government spokesman Brian Roberts. He declined to say who Elrich is considering for the group.
The group will meet periodically throughout the fall and deliver a report to Luedtke in December that he will use to draft legislation. The Maryland General Assembly will convene for its next session in January 2020.
Montgomery County school board members are currently paid $25,000 per year, except for the board president, who receives $29,000.
The student board member, elected by middle and high school students from across the county, receives a $5,000 college scholarship, Student Service Learning hours, and one honors-level social studies credit.
Judy Docca, a 13-year member of the Montgomery County school board, said increasing members’ salaries is critical to ensuring a diverse mix of representation.
It is difficult now for people who are not retired or “independently wealthy” to keep up with the workload, including board meetings, individual meetings with community members and reviewing data, policies and other documents, Docca said.
“It takes a lot of stamina and commitment to do this work,” said Docca, a retired MCPS middle school principal. “We have kids who come to us every day that we’re responsible for everything that affects them. It’s an important job and it’s hard to get a mix of different kinds of people at the board table the way it’s set up now.”
The ages of the seven Montgomery County Board of Education members range from 46 to 80.
The majority of school board members are retired or do not hold full-time jobs. The exception is Karla Silvestre, in her first term, who is employed full-time as Montgomery College’s director of community engagement.
“I love serving on the Board of Education, but without having a full-time job to pay my bills and support my family, I wouldn’t be able to do the board work. I have to work for a living and the salary we get from the board is something nobody should have to depend on for a living,” Silvestre said. “People ask how I manage both jobs and that’s something I struggle with. I love what I do in both jobs, but I never want to pretend it’s easy. I don’t want to pretend that it doesn’t interfere with my family life or interfere with my health.”
Luedkte, a former Montgomery County Public Schools teacher, said when he introduced the legislation to create the compensation review committee that Montgomery school board members are underpaid for the work they do.
School board positions are considered part-time jobs, but board members say they spend full-time hours, or more, working on school-related issues and attending meetings and events.
Montgomery County’s school board is the highest paid in the state. Most of nearby Prince George’s County school board members receive about $18,000 per year, while Howard County board members take home $15,000 per year. In Baltimore City, school board members don’t receive an annual salary.
None of the compensation review committee members can be employed by the board of education or have a relative who works for the school system.
Commission members will consider board members’ responsibilities, necessary education and skills, time commitment to the job and workload, as well as salaries of school board members in other jurisdictions and the pay of subordinate employees.
Docca, who worked for MCPS for 38 years, said it’s important that the committee remembers that the school board, unlike the County Council, does not have staff members who help review documents, proposals and budgets.
This year’s MCPS budget totals $2.66 billion, more than half of the county’s overall budget.
“All over the country, school boards are at the bottom when you talk about politics and the people who have power,” Docca said. “We need to look at a different paradigm for education. The people who work in education, teachers and staff included, need to be appreciated more.”
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
