Public school governance: board member compensation.

Solache, with the support of Carrillo, Jackson, Blanca Rubio, and Ávila Farías, advances a measure that ties compensation for county boards of education and district governing boards to local governance context while preserving board-level discretion. The proposal preserves the core principle that local bodies set compensation within defined caps, but establishes explicit maximums and new mechanisms for adjusting pay, attendance-based prorating, and pupil-member compensation, all within a framework that continues to rely on local authority.

For county boards, the measure organizes compensation by county class, setting monthly caps that range from up to $3,000 in the most populous classifications to up to $800 for the smallest. It retains prorating for regular or pupil members who do not attend all meetings in a month, with compensation adjusted proportionally to meetings attended. The plan allows mileage reimbursement for privately owned vehicles used for official duties, requires monthly attendance tracking, and provides an annual increase of up to 5 percent subject to approval by the respective county board of education, with a referendum option for voters to reject such increases. It also keeps open the possibility for pupil members to receive both elective course credit and monthly compensation, per board action.

On the district side, the measure introduces ADA-based compensation tiers, with larger districts facing higher caps and the largest districts (ADA over 250,000) governed by local charter provisions and a compensation review process. Specifically, districts with ADA over 60,000 not located in a city-and-county context may compensate regular members up to $4,500 per month; other bands include $3,000 for ADA over 25,000 to 60,000, $2,000 for ADA over 10,000 to 25,000, $1,200 for ADA over 1,000 to 10,000, and $600 for ADA of 1,000 or less. Absence-based prorating remains, and compensation is a charge against district funds; in multi-district arrangements, costs are allocated in proportion to each district’s share of the city superintendent’s salary, with reductions for any funds paid by the city. Annual increases up to 5 percent are permitted by the governing board, though the text does not explicitly provide a voter referendum mechanism for districts as it does for counties. Pupil members may receive either elective credit or monthly compensation, and the definitions of “pupil member” and “regular member” continue to reference existing Education Code provisions for consistency.

Implementation relies largely on local governance structures, with no state appropriation required for implementation. The measure emphasizes local budgeting and administration, including attendance-record requirements, prorating calculations, and the allocation framework across districts within a city’s purview. By tying compensation to county classification and district size, the proposal creates variation aligned with local organizational scale, while maintaining avenues for oversight and accountability through board resolutions, minutes, and, in the county context, voter referendum options.