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Some School Board members reject raises

Four members chose to raise their pay to $39,210 while the other three opted stay at last year's level of $37,631.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published November 23, 2005

LARGO - Rather than accept a 4.2 percent salary increase, Pinellas School Board members decided Tuesday to do something different: set their own pay individually.

Board members voted 4-3 in favor of a plan that allowed them to choose salaries between $34,000, the pay rate for a beginning teacher, and $39,210, the amount recommended by the Florida School Boards Association.

Four board members, including outgoing board chairwoman Nancy Bostock, chose the higher amount.

"I have always supported the (Florida School Boards Association) salary," Bostock said, referring to the organization that recommends salaries for school board members in Florida. "That's the salary I will set for myself."

Board members Jane Gallucci, Mary Brown and Carol Cook also chose the recommended salary. Mary Russell, Janet Clark and Linda Lerner decided to keep the $37,631 salary they earned last year.

"I believe we earned what we are making," Lerner said. "(But) I don't believe I can ask some people to freeze their salaries for a year when I (won't).

The vote followed a discussion that began at the Nov. 8 meeting in which Clark disagreed with superintendent Clayton Wilcox's recommendation to support the Florida School Boards Association suggestion. Urging the board to be "honest and forthright" in the face of proposed budget cuts, Clark asked members to maintain the salary they received this year.

At Tuesday's meeting, Russell agreed with Clark, citing a promise made by the previous board to raise teacher salaries to the national average in three to four years. Pinellas teachers got a 9 percent pay increase this year, much of it from a voter-approved property tax increase, but still lag behind their peers nationally.

"We're going on the fourth year, and we have not done that yet," Russell said. "I understand we passed a referendum for teacher salaries, but that was what the voters did. That is not what the district necessarily did for our employees."

Until recently, school board pay in Florida was set by the same state statute that determines salaries for sheriffs and clerks of the court. After the law was changed to allow school boards to set their own salaries, the Florida School Boards Association began making recommendations.

The idea was to help boards with what sometimes becomes a sensitive issue, said Ruth Melton, the organization's director of legislative relations.

"From year to year, different districts will respond differently," Melton said. "What they choose is often dependent on the general economy of the school district in that fiscal year."

But it's rare, Melton said, for members of one district to choose different salaries.

Wilcox is paid $177,000 annually, plus benefits and an annuity. His total compensation is about $235,000 a year.

In other business, board members selected Carol Cook as their chairwoman for the coming year. They selected Mary Brown as co-chairwoman.

Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

[Last modified November 23, 2005, 00:44:19]