St. Paul school board members are poised to raise their own pay.

Board members get $10,800 per year, which is less than what comparably sized metro districts pay. However, members are eligible for district health insurance; those who sign up get a premium subsidy that’s worth $9,643 this year.

Jon Schumacher and Mary Vanderwert, who are leaving the board next year after serving one four-year term, gave the strongest endorsements for a raise at a meeting Wednesday evening.

“I feel very strongly that there really does need to be an increase so we can make sure that we have people who have passion, who have expertise and who aren’t going to feel that serving on this board is going to make it impossible for them to meet their financial needs,” Schumacher said.

Vanderwert suggested a salary increase of $5,000 or more.

“I definitely think it’s time for us to do this,” she said. “It’s the most important work a community does, and the board positions need to be attractive to high-quality people.”

The board did not settle on a specific dollar amount. A formal proposal is expected at a future meeting.

No one spoke against a salary increase Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately clear when school board members last saw a pay raise.

The salary increase proposal is likely to include language directing future boards to review their own pay every few years or so.

PEERS PAY MORE

St. Paul is the state’s second-largest school district by enrollment.

The largest, Anoka-Hennepin, pays between $14,400 and $15,600, depending on the board member’s role, human resources director Laurin Cathey said.

Minneapolis, the third-largest district, pays $22,000.

Most board members make $9,000 in Osseo, $7,236 in St. Cloud, $7,200 in Bloomington and $5,000 in Brooklyn Center, Cathey said.

Cathey also looked at St. Paul’s national peers and found school board members receive no pay in either Des Moines, Iowa, or Portland, Ore.

OPEN POSITION

Chief Financial Officer Marie Schrul said that after last school year there was about $90,000 left over in the sliver of the budget dedicated to the school board’s operations; that fund would cover any salary increases.

The board’s fund balance is growing because they’ve yet to hire a new administrator to the board. The last to hold that job was Cedrick Baker, who became Superintendent Joe Gothard’s chief of staff in June 2018.

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CANDIDATE FILING

Voters will elect four school board members in November. Tuesday is the deadline for candidates to file for office.

So far, eight have filed: Chauntyll Allen, Omar Syed, Jessica Kopp, Charlie Castro, Jennifer McPherson, Elijah Norris-Holliday and incumbents Zuki Ellis and Steve Marchese.