All but one member of the Bakersfield City School District Board of Education voted to increase their own compensation by more than 280% Tuesday, the maximum allowable for a district of that size.
The only nay vote came from Area 3 Trustee Chris Cruz-Boone, but no members of the board made any comment on the item before the vote.
Speaking to The Californian Friday, Area 5 Trustee and President Pro-Tem Brooke Malley Ault said the increased compensation would allow for a broader range of people to run for office, and would make school board races more competitive.
“BCSD is a very high-needs district. We don’t need people that are all affluent to serve on our boards. There doesn’t need to be five people that are out of touch on the board,” Malley Ault said.
“We need people that actually know what’s going on in the community,” she said.
Board members’ compensation has been limited to $787 a month, but trustees are also entitled to health insurance provided by the district. With the increased stipend, Malley Ault said she would be forgoing the district insurance, but that other members may choose not to do the same.
“Maybe there are some people that do need both. I don’t think I’m in a position to say ‘you can’t do that’ to someone else,” she said.
Being a board member is much more than attending one monthly meeting. Meeting materials need to be studied and members regularly appear at community events and meetings.
Malley Ault said the increased pay had not previously been discussed by the board, and referred several questions to BCSD Board President Laura Guerrero-Salgado.
In an email, BCSD spokeswoman Tabitha Mills said the state Legislature recognized the need to update compensation to provide an equitable opportunity for any person in a district boundary to serve on the board.
“This legislative action increases the likelihood that all segments of the school community can be represented on the board,” Mills said.
Member compensation is based on a district’s average daily attendance, which Mills said is 26,474 students for BCSD. She noted the resolution approved by the board contains a provision that compensation would fall to $2,000 a month if the average daily attendance falls to 25,000 or lower.
“Moreover, there is often a limited understanding of the scope of the demands of school board service,” Mills said. “In a district as large as Bakersfield City, that service requires a significant amount of hours of work each week.”
According to a staff analysis, the responsibilities and time commitments required of school board members have grown substantially over the past several decades.
Stipend levels authorized under the California Education Code remained unchanged for more than 40 years and statutory caps were not adjusted for inflation.
This caused “maximum monthly stipends available to board members to fall increasingly out of alignment with both the real cost of living and the expanding scope of board-level duties,” the analysis said.
In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1390 into law, allowing increased compensation for members of school district and county board of education members based on their jurisdiction’s average daily attendance.
“Serving as a school board trustee is a demanding role that requires a great deal of time, research, training, public engagement and commitment,” Assemblyman José Luis Solache, D-Lynwood, said in a statement when the bill was signed into law.
“While the responsibilities of our school boards have grown exponentially in recent years, compensation limits have not been adjusted to reflect this reality,” he said.
The action voted on by BCSD board members Tuesday revised the board’s bylaws from stating that board members may receive a monthly stipend of no more than $787 to “receive the maximum monthly compensation as provided for.”
Before taxes or other deductions, $3,000 a month amounts to an hourly wage of $18.75 with a 40-hour workweek. Board members are not required to work a particular number of hours.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean hourly wage for the Bakersfield-Delano area in 2024 — including higher wage management jobs — was $30.51, a monthly total of $4,881 on a 40-hour workweek, before taxes and deductions.
The Bakersfield City Council addressed its own compensation in August, and voted to take no action despite the $100-per-month stipend not having increased since 1956.
City data provided to The Californian showed council members are paid roughly $10,000 annually in combination monthly stipend and a bi-weekly vehicle allowance of $361. Council members also receive health insurance and retirement benefits.