Charles school board eyes pay raises for themselves

The Charles County Board of Education is eyeing a bigger payday for themselves.

Eight other counties in Maryland have upped their education boards’ pay since 2014 — the last year that Charles County’s board saw an increase.

Eric Schwartz, the staff attorney for the school system, presented reasons in favor of the increase on Oct. 15, saying that the time commitment for the school board members is extensive and that enrollment in the school system is rising.

Comparisons were made with other boards in similarly sized school systems, like Frederick County where the chair is paid $11,000 yearly and its other members $10,000. Carroll County offers its chair $13,000 and $12,000 for its other members, Schwartz explained.

Currently, the chair of the Charles County board makes $7,000 yearly and every other member makes $6,000, with the exception of the student board member who receives a $1,000 scholarship at the end of their term.

A committee that addresses board compensation recommended that the Charles County school board increase salaries to $11,500. Also, it was recommended $13,000 annually for the chairperson and $12,000 for the vice chairperson and to increase the student member’s scholarship to $5,000.

The committee added the vice chairperson’s salary separately from the other members after seeing counties like Anne Arundel make the distinction.

The compensation committee was comprised of two representatives from each county commissioner district as well as representatives from the Education Association of Charles County and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Legislation would be needed to increase the salaries.

Charles County board members’ compensation is controlled by state law under Section 3-503 of the Education Article, Annotated Code of Maryland.

“I’m against any kind of increase in compensation for the board,” David Hancock, board member, said. “Minimal it may be, but it’s still $50,500 annually increase [for the nine members combined]. We weren’t fully funded last year and every little bit helps.”

Like Hancock, board member Dottery Butler-Washington opposed the increase, saying, “I don’t want to take away from any part of the educational funds.”

Nicole Kreamer, vice chairperson of the board, expressed her support for the salary increase, saying it’s appropriate as it has not been looked at in 10 years.

Yonelle Moore Lee, chairperson, said, “I don’t know any position where you don’t get [a raise] in 10 years. This is a professional board. It is a hard-working board.”

Moore Lee said that she does not want any potential barriers to prevent people from running for school board in the future, saying that board members average about $5 an hour.

No action was taken at the Oct. 15 session.