Picking up on our recent reporting, today, Marla Jo Fisher of the OC Register covered the board’s potential action (at tomorrow’s board meeting) of increasing their stipend from $400 to $750. See College trustees consider raising their own pay 67%.Marla reports that “Chancellor Raghu Mathur, who put the item on the agenda, wouldn’t discuss it and referred calls to the district’s public information office.”
That person (Tracy Daly), says Marla, issued a statement:
As it turns out, the stipend that SOCCCD trustees receive (for attending meetings) is relatively low by the standards of contiguous districts:
My guess is that, tomorrow, our trustees will argue that this “raise” will merely bring their pay up to the standard among districts in the area, which appears to be true.
Ah, yes, but one of the arguments made by the union for significant pay increases for faculty is that, as things now stand, faculty pay has fallen below the standard set by local districts.
So I hope union reps will be ready to make that point tomorrow, if it becomes appropriate.
I was hoping to interest Marla in covering the peculiar case of trustee John Williams, who, if we can believe the agenda report, evidently routinely spends $500 or more a day (of taxpayer money) just for lodging while at conferences in such places as Tampa and Palm Springs.
Marla did hint to me that she’s interested in that story. We’ll see.
“The district’s FTES … is now over 25,000. As mentioned in the agenda item, “Education Code Section 72024 provides that in any community college district in which the …FTES for the prior college year exceeds 25,000, each member of the Governing Board, who actually attends all meetings held by the Board, may receive a compensation for his/her services a sum not to exceed $750.00 in any month.”Marla says that she emailed the trustees asking how they planned to vote on this item tomorrow, but only Tom Fuentes responded, explaining that he had not read the item and so he “couldn’t say” how he would vote on it.
As it turns out, the stipend that SOCCCD trustees receive (for attending meetings) is relatively low by the standards of contiguous districts:
At the North Orange County district… trustees are paid $787.50 per month and also are eligible for health care benefits. ¶ Coast district trustees, who run Coastline, Orange Coast and Golden West colleges, get paid $1,008 per month, PIO Martha Parham said.Hmmm. Aren’t they violating Ed Code 72024 at these districts? I mean, aren't they exceeding the limit of $750 a month? Or do I read it wrong?
My guess is that, tomorrow, our trustees will argue that this “raise” will merely bring their pay up to the standard among districts in the area, which appears to be true.
Ah, yes, but one of the arguments made by the union for significant pay increases for faculty is that, as things now stand, faculty pay has fallen below the standard set by local districts.
So I hope union reps will be ready to make that point tomorrow, if it becomes appropriate.
I was hoping to interest Marla in covering the peculiar case of trustee John Williams, who, if we can believe the agenda report, evidently routinely spends $500 or more a day (of taxpayer money) just for lodging while at conferences in such places as Tampa and Palm Springs.
Marla did hint to me that she’s interested in that story. We’ll see.
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