Greater Victoria school district trustees are getting their first pay hike in several years.
“It’s been six years since the last pay raise, and then 10 years before that,” said board chairwoman Peg Orcherton.
A 17 per cent raise was approved this week at the first Greater Victoria school board meeting after the Nov. 15 elections, which saw six of nine trustees re-elected. The new trustees take office Dec. 8.
The motion stems from a 2005 school board motion to review trustee remuneration every three years. Trustees turned down a $1,846 raise in 2012.
The raise approved this week is based on the average trustee pay in the five B.C. school districts closest in size to Greater Victoria — Burnaby, Central Okanagan, Richmond, Langley and Abbotsford. The regular Greater Victoria district trustee salary will go from $17,424 per year to $20,486 per year (an annual raise of $3,062), effective Dec. 1. There will be no raise for the chairperson and vice-chairperson, who each will continue to receive an extra $3,000 and $1,500, respectively.
A motion that the raise not be accepted was defeated 6-3, with trustees Deborah Nohr, Diane McNally and Catherine Alpha voting in favour. Alpha did not stand for re-election and will not be on the new school board elected last weekend, while Nohr and McNally ran successfully for another term.
Nohr said she voted against the raise on principle.“My reason was that, at this point, I am acutely aware of the lack of funding in our classrooms, and we have students that are not receiving basic academic instruction.”
McNally said good points were made on both sides of the debate, but she ultimately decided against supporting the raise. Still, she acknowledged the position of trustee should pay enough to attract people in a variety of personal circumstances. “Because I have a pension, I can afford to do this more or less on civic duty.”
She said she had some concerns about the process behind the raise coming forward and will bring them up in future.
Trustee Tim Ferris, who voted in favour of the raise, saw the decision as an appropriate step. “It was pretty well-supported by the board.”
Ferris noted that the increase is linked to what is paid in comparable districts.
