Denver college board votes to extend members’ pay to $33,000 a 12 months

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Three newly elected Denver college board members will likely be eligible for $33,000 in pay per 12 months, after the present board voted 6-1 Thursday to quadruple members’ compensation.

Board members stated they hoped the upper pay would entice extra numerous candidates to run for varsity board. Denver Public Faculties is the biggest district within the state, and board members have in contrast serving to a full-time job that was, till just lately, unpaid.

“We owe it to our college students to make sure that we take away obstacles that stop a college board that appears like and displays them,” board member Scott Esserman stated.

Board President Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán was the only no vote. She stated she couldn’t justify rising pay for board members when that cash might be spent in lecture rooms. Her son’s highschool solely has one Spanish trainer who’s stretched skinny, she stated, and the college just lately reduce a jazz band elective that her son loved resulting from a scarcity of funding.

“These funds might be redirected to handle vital wants in southwest Denver colleges,” Gaytán stated, referencing the area of town she represents.

Incoming board members John Youngquist, Marlene De La Rosa, and Kimberlee Sia, who had been elected Nov. 7 and are set to be sworn in Nov. 28, will be capable of bill Denver Public Faculties for as much as $150 a day, 5 days per week, which is the utmost allowable underneath state legislation.

The board doesn’t meet in July, so members are paid 11 months of the 12 months, therefore the $33,000 in annual pay. The board beforehand voted in 2021 to pay members as much as $150 a day, 5 days a month. That’s $8,250 per 12 months, with public worker retirement advantages on prime of that.

The opposite 4 members on the seven-member board should not eligible for the upper pay. State legislation doesn’t permit sitting board members to boost their very own compensation.

District information present that solely three board members — Esserman, Gaytán, and Michelle Quattlebaum — had been paid within the final fiscal 12 months. Carrie Olson didn’t acquire any cash.

A minimum of two different Colorado college boards, in Aurora and Sheridan, have voted to pay their members, although their members’ compensation is far decrease than in Denver.

Melanie Asmar is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado, masking Denver Public Faculties. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.