Board members in the South Washington County School District voted last Thursday to increase their pay.
Board Member Pat Driscoll made a motion to increase their compensation from the $5,700 to $10,000 annually, a 75 percent increase. The motion was seconded by board member Melinda Dols. Five of the six board members present approved the pay increase. Board Member Simi Patnaik voted no. Board member Eric Tessmer was not at the meeting.
The pay increase was recommended after a discussion during a school board workshop on Aug. 8th.
“I have heard things in the community about how much we make. They feel we make a lot more than we actually do,” Board Chair Katie Schwartz said. “We haven’t had this conversation in a long time.”
SoWashCo serves the whole or parts of seven cities: Afton, Cottage Grove, Denmark, Grey Cloud Island, Newport, St. Paul Park, and Woodbury. It has a current enrollment of approximately 18,700 students. SoWashCo has 16 elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools, and two non-traditional high schools.
“I always thought our compensation was really low,” Board member Patricia Driscoll said at the workshop. “This is not an easy job. We are not respecting ourselves, I would like to see a pay increase.”
Board member Melinda Dols added: “It would be nice to make a little bit more here.”
There is a significant difference in the number of school board members in each district and the number of students enrolled in each district. According to the latest figures with the Minnesota Department of Education, as of October 2023, Anoka-Hennepin had the highest enrollment with 38,631 students, Lakeville at 10th highest had 12,021, and SoWashCo had 19,560.
Currently, SoWashCo, the sixth largest school district in Minnesota, pays each of its seven members $5,700 annually. Anoka-Hennepin has six board members and pays $15,600 to the chair and $14,400 to the other members.
From 2002-2017, SoWashCo school board members were paid $4,800 annually. This was increased to $5,400 in 2017. A stipend change increased it to the current $5,700 annually, in 2018. SoWashCo board members earn less than all of the ten largest districts in the state, except for Wayzata.
Driscoll said she would like to see a pay increase to $10,000 next month and possibly increase to $12,000 in January. “We have three high schools and four middle schools. That’s a lot of legwork.”
Simi Patnaik, member since 2020, would like to approach the issue in a more structured way with “logic behind the amount of pay increase.” She added that it might make sense for the board chair to be paid 10 percent more than members, as a reflection of the other duties of the chair.
School board members are expected to attend external committee meetings like City of Woodbury meetings, Minnesota State High School League, and others. About a dozen internal ISD 833 District committees like the Citizens’ Financial Advisory Committee and Curriculum Advisory Committee require representation by a school board member, as well
Editor’s Note: Manali Shah serves on the district’s Citizens Financial Advisory Committee, which was not involved in the pay increase recommendation.
