Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The School Board members of Buffalo Public Schools will be getting a significant stipend increase come the beginning of next year.
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The Buffalo Common Council Tuesday approved, in a vote of 5-3, a 12.6% salary increase for the mayor, comptroller and the councilmembers themselves.
But for the 9 School Board members representing Buffalo Public Schools, their raise increase was, per their request, a much higher percentage. Their annual stipend will increase from $15,000 to $28,000 annually, nearly an 87% increase.
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Former long-serving board member and previous School Board President, Louis Petrucci, says there's a number of reasons why Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams and the board members made a stipend increase request before the council. The main reasons cited were the amount of work and time and effort they put into what could almost be considered a full-time position.
"If you're very dedicated, and if you do all the readings and attend all the meetings, and you're involved in the community, it can take a lot of time. It's 20, 30, 40 hours a week, you know, depending on the time of the year and depending on your dedication."
"I don't know any board members that don't put in at least 40 hours," said Paulette Woods, the Central District Board Member. "We are the voice of the community. We represent the vision of the community. You name the issue, we're at the forefront of it, because it affects our children."
Both Petrucci and Woods say the board members are making a small fraction of what other board members are making in comparable districts. Some districts compare their salaries to a fraction of what their local council member or alderperson make.
"Even with the the increase, which the superintendent recommended, I think it brings us up to maybe $1.98 an hour . [In] other school districts, board members are paid 30% of whatever the common council members are paid, and common council members are part-time," says Woods.
Woods considers her job to be full-time, as she not only receives regular calls from parents day and night with questions, concerns or whatever they need, but also approving budgets, teacher contracts, taking mandatory training, attending weekly board meetings and many other responsibilities that require to be up and working at irregular hours.
"If I walk out on my porch, I have a parent or a neighbor's next door saying, 'I put my kid in the wrong school, can you help me get her moved? She really likes this better.' We're all going to conferences to learn to do our job better. We have a week of mandatory training on the laws regarding managing a School Board. We have retreats that are necessary for further education. This is really a full-time job. I was told when I ran, 'Oh, you go to two board meetings a month on a Wednesday, maybe for four hours.' That did not turn out to be the job that we're doing. If you want to bring new programs to the school's, new careers, if you want to be the voice of this community, you have to be out there."
"The majority of things that school board members do, are between five at night and nine in the morning," adds Petrucci.
"During the day, there's always transportation, student placement and other issues that occur. School board members like to go out and visit schools and attend various functions that happen during the day, whether it's a graduation or ribbon-cutting a new program, whatever it may be. That's part of it as well. It's a different job in that the whistle doesn't go off and you get a cup of coffee. There is some very serious and necessary ... dedication of time that you have to put in a position to do it well."
Another potential benefit for increasing the stipend that both former and current members hope for, is that it may increase the likelihood of more candidates or concerned parents and citizens to run for a board member position, some who are willing to give their time for the public good.
"Some of the board members, we're older, we're retired. Because we're retired, we have our own incomes, we can afford to put the time in and be a board member. We want young people with vision and more energy. Younger people, they cannot afford to volunteer their time, they have families, they're working and they need to be paid. So hopefully, this larger stipend will attract more younger and professional board members to the field," says Woods.