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State law currently does not allow school board members to be paid, though they can be reimbursed for expenses related to the job. But a bill filed in the state senate last fall would allow Chicago Board of Education members to be paid. Corrina Demma, an organizer with Educators for Excellence, noted that because state law prohibits employees of Chicago Public Schools from sitting on the elected school board, teachers could run for a seat but would have to quit their job in order to serve.
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My school board had several retired teachers elected, and boy did they vote for every thing that the union wanted.BIG mistake!
Could teachers be elected, quit teaching , vote for large pay increases and other generous contract provisions, then go back to teaching after serving on the board. If we pay school board members they wouldn’t even have to give up a salary to run and their time on the board might qualify as years of service for their teachers pension. Otherwise I don’t have a problem with board members receiving a reasonable stipend.
Essentially isn’t that what Brandon is doing already——temporarily doing something else and eventually having it count toward’s his pension service time as something akin to a teacher on official, paid leave? He and others like him have been trodding that sanctioned pension-eligible pathway for quite some time.
As a former suburban school board member, I see nothing wrong with a stipend for school board members. I see a lot wrong with current faculty serving on school boards as a huge conflict of interest.
I agree in principle. But we all know that what starts as a reasonable stipend to compensate for work performed will soon blossom into salaries, benefits and pensions.
Would paid school board members qualify for a government teacher’s pension? CTU members could run and get elected and leave teaching while they are on the school board. Their time on the school board would quality as years of service for their Chicago teachers pension boosting their eventual pension payments. Parents who are not teachers would probably not have enough years of service to qualify for a government pension. Another reason for the CTU, with all of their money and volunteers, to be able to dominate the new school board.