Sooke School District trustees tasked with setting their own pay have voted to give themselves a significant raise.
A proposal to boost their pay by 45 per cent to $14,500 per year, beginning in September, passed easily at Tuesday nightB次元官网网址檚 public board meeting at the district offices.
Vice-chair Bob Phillips, tasked with researching and proposing board remuneration shortly after the board was sworn in last December, came to the table well prepared to defend his numbers.
Phillips and secretary treasurer Harold Cull went through the past 25 years of SD62 budgets, looked at the trustee pay for every school board in the province and incorporated those facets into a proposal to raise the amount from the current $10,000, which was set back in 2007. The rate would increase to $15,000 as of July 2016.
B次元官网网址淲hen we decided to put the data together, Harold and I asked a couple of questions of ourselves,B次元官网网址� Phillips told the board. B次元官网网址淚 guess the first one was (asking) what a trustee does.B次元官网网址�
He compared the role of a school board with that of a municipal government, in that they operate a segment of society at a local level, and highlighted the importance of that role.
As part of his presentation, Phillips focused on 10 districts in B.C. with roughly the same number of students as SD62 B次元官网网址� from Mission with 5,793 up to Sooke with 9,180. Of those 10 districts, Sooke was tied for second-lowest in trustee compensation while having the highest enrolment figures.
B次元官网网址淎ltogether, weB次元官网网址檙e the 17th-largest school district in the province and weB次元官网网址檙e ranked 45th by trustee remuneration,B次元官网网址� Phillips said.
Other factors explored were the upward trend in enrolment B次元官网网址� forecasts predict the number of school-aged children in the district to rise approximately 60 per cent by 2036 B次元官网网址� and the impact to the SD62 budget, of which Phillips said there would be none.
B次元官网网址淭he implementation will not involve needing to make any cuts or reductions, and actually there will be money left over.B次元官网网址�
Trustee Ravi Parmar chose to abstain from the vote saying as a new trustee with just over two months on the board, he felt uncomfortable voting on giving himself a pay raise.
Only Trustee Neil Poirier was opposed to the remuneration motion. As much as the research justified the pay increase, he said, B次元官网网址淚 gotta say, in light of the budget cuts again this year, IB次元官网网址檓 going to vote no.B次元官网网址�
Denise Riley added her voice to many others who thanked Phillips and Cull for their research work.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 want to ever see the remuneration get to a place where one believes this is a job, because it isnB次元官网网址檛, itB次元官网网址檚 public service,B次元官网网址� she said, noting it was high time the board addressed making their pay reflect the worthwhile work they do.
After the meeting, Phillips said that theyB次元官网网址檝e always lagged behind in terms of their payment structure, and even with this raise, theyB次元官网网址檙e still behind other comparable districts.
B次元官网网址淭he sky wouldnB次元官网网址檛 have fallen in if we would have gone to $16,392 like Mission, who has half as many kids as us. ThereB次元官网网址檚 no appetite from the board to want to go there, but we had to get a fix that was something closer to the size of our district.B次元官网网址�
