jbarrientos@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, May 17 2011 09:00 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, May 17 2011 09:00 PM
Kern County school districts paid about $2.3 million combined for trustee health benefits, stipends and travel last school year, money that these days would be better spent on teachers, computers or textbooks, the county grand jury said Tuesday.
The seemingly large figure, however, makes up only about .2 percent of all Kern County school district coffers. And school board members have a legal right to give themselves the benefits.
But the Kern County Grand Jury committee that looked at the 2009-2010 data said it "strongly urges the districts to examine their district-paid trustee health benefits and seriously consider revision to make the benefits available to the trustees only at the trustee's expense."
Guy Porter, chairman of the committee, said jurors have no beef with giving board members stipends for meetings or conference costs.
"It's the health benefits that bother us. Serving on school boards should be a volunteer thing," Porter said. "Smaller districts pay a lot of money for benefits and they really shouldn't."
The duties of school board members include setting district policies and guidelines, adopting annual budgets, negotiating contracts, approving curriculum and hiring and firing administrators. They typically meet once a month, sometimes more, in public meetings.
The new grand jury report lists how much each district spends on its trustees' travel and health benefits and how that compares percentage-wise to its total budget. It had data for 240 trustees total in the county.
The Californian found some inaccuracies in the committee's figures relative to district budgets, which a grand juror said came from the Kern County Superintendent of Schools office and may not include all types of funding.
Trustee benefit information came from individual districts.
Porter said it was "ridiculous" that McKittrick School District, a 70-student entity in west Kern, spends $100,000 on trustee health benefits. And he commended Standard School District's board for recently deciding to no longer accept health benefits.
The committee conducted a similar study for the 2004-05 school year. Kern County districts spent about $400,000 less on trustee benefits that year, reports show.
The grand jury made the same recommendation in its report covering 2004-2005 as today -- for districts to review policies and spend less. Obviously they didn't, Porter said.
The new report shows:
* Bakersfield City School District spends the most overall on trustee benefits out of all Kern districts -- $121,817 in 2009-10. But that's only about .06 percent of its entire budget.
Still, Andrae Gonzales -- a newly elected BCSD trustee who has been critical of what he considers unnecessary spending during budget difficulties -- welcomed the committee recommendation.
"We have to look at everything in making cuts," Gonzales said. "It's a nice perk, but I didn't run for school board for health insurance. If you are in it for health insurance, you're in it for the wrong reasons."
* McKittrick spends the most on health insurance specifically -- about $100,000 for three trustees and two retired ones, school officials said.
Some retired trustees are allowed to collect the benefit. State law now says "districts providing benefits to former members may not continue to provide these benefits to any person first elected to a term of office that began after January 1, 1995."
McKittrick trustees did not return calls for comment. Its superintendent, Barry Koerner, said the cost of paying for benefits has gone up, from about $7,800 per person 10 years ago to about $18,000 now.
"They earn it, and we're going to honor it," Koerner said of the benefits, "until we're not able to provide the needs that students have."
He argued trustees aren't motivated to serve because of health benefits, but it is a perk to compete for a seat. All three current trustees have gone through McKittrick school district, and so have their kids.
"Mine aren't doing it because they have an agenda," Koerner said. "I enjoy the quality of what I get when I have something to offer. They're sincerely looking out for the best interest of the children."
* More than 10 school boards, mostly in smaller districts, do not accept health benefits. They include Kernville Union, Muroc Joint Unified and Rio Bravo-Greeley Union school districts.
"These districts should be commended for their fiscal prudence," the committee said in its report.
Some individual board members also do not accept benefits. Kern High School District Trustee Bill Perry said he only gets reimbursed for out-of-pocket board expenses, like travel costs. He declines his health benefits because he receives them from another job -- he's a retired Cal State Bakersfield administrator.
"It would make no sense in me taking benefits I don't really need. I'm here to try to contribute to the running of the district," Perry said. "And people who choose to accept them, I won't judge them."
Standard School District trustees unanimously decided to ax their health benefits last school year.
"None of us really needed it," said Barbara Hutchinson, who sat on the board. "We felt (being a trustee) was a volunteer job, and it was an expense the district didn't need to have. We thought it was an excellent time to say, 'No more'."
No comments:
Post a Comment