Background: Compensation for School Board Directors. If authorized by board resolution at a regularly scheduled meeting, the members of a school district board of directors may receive compensation of $50 per day, or portion of a day, for attending board meetings and performing other services on behalf of the district. The compensation may not exceed $4,800 per year and only locally collected excess levy funds available for this purpose may be used to provide the compensation. This compensation is in addition to any reimbursement for expenses. Compensation for board members must not cause the state to incur any present or future funding obligation. Any director may waive part or all of his or her compensation.

Citizens' Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials. The Citizens' Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials (Commission) sets the salaries of the elected officials in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of state government. Beginning September 1, 2015, the annual salary for a legislator increased to $45,474. Beginning September 1, 2016, the annual salary for a legislator increases to $46,839.

Student Enrollment. As of January, the following school districts have reported to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, a student enrollment of 20,000 students or more as a headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) students. These counts include students participating in Running Start.

	Total Headcount	Total FTE
Seattle	52,639.25	51,130.82
Spokane	30,418.55	29,789.37
Tacoma	28,755.20	28,433.78
Lake Washington	28,140.35	26,909.29
Kent	27,360.10	27,095.99
Evergreen (Clark)	26,588.85	26,206.85
Vancouver	23,244.35	23,078.85
Puyallup	22,768.75	22,493.40
Federal Way	22,433.40	22,240.99
Northshore	21,116.25	20,298.05
Edmonds	20,681.15	20,276.79

Summary of Bill: If authorized by board resolution at a regularly scheduled meeting, each member of a school board of directors of a school district that enrolls 20,000 students or more may receive compensation for each day, or portion of a day, for attending board meetings and for performing other services on behalf of the district in an amount that does not exceed the annual salary for a legislator as set by the Citizens' Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials.

Compensation rates for school board directors in districts enrolling fewer than 20,000 students remains at $50 per day or portion of a day, not to exceed $4,800 annually.

Regardless of the amount of the compensation allowed: a board of directors may authorize such compensation only from locally collected levy funds available for that purpose; compensation must not cause the state to incur any funding obligation; and a director may waive part or all of that director's compensation

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: This legislation acknowledges the important fiduciary responsibility and commitment of boards of directors of large school districts who manage millions of dollars. It is completely permissive for large school districts to use local funds to increase the salary of the school board members up to a maximum amount. Many current school board members in large and small school districts are truly volunteers even though they could receive $50 a day. But the amount of time spent by people who serve on a board of a large school district is substantial and and has evolved beyond being a “volunteer". The time requirements and lack of a reasonable salary is adversely effecting large school districts' ability to attract and retain exceptional people to serve on the board. Please consider having a range or a scalable threshold instead of a bright line at 20,000 students because student enrollment does fluctuate and a district may be over 20,000 students one year but not in a subsequent year.