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

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

Board members mentioned they hoped the upper pay would entice extra various candidates to run for varsity board. Denver Public Colleges is the biggest district within the state, and board members have in contrast serving to a full-time job that was, till not too long ago, 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 mentioned.

Board President Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán was the only real no vote. She mentioned she couldn’t justify growing pay for board members when that cash could possibly be spent in school rooms. Her son’s highschool solely has one Spanish trainer who’s stretched skinny, she mentioned, and the college not too long ago minimize a jazz band elective that her son loved as a consequence of an absence of funding.

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

Incoming board members John Youngquist, Marlene De La Rosa, and Kimberlee Sia, who have been elected Nov. 7 and are set to be sworn in Nov. 28, will have the ability to bill Denver Public Colleges 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 yr, 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 yr, with public worker retirement advantages on prime of that.

The opposite 4 members on the seven-member board usually are not eligible for the upper pay. State legislation doesn’t enable sitting board members to lift their very own compensation.

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

At the least two different Colorado college boards, in Aurora and Sheridan, have voted to pay their members, although their members’ compensation is way decrease than in Denver.

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