A recently enacted state law permitting public school board members to authorize significant pay increases for themselves has sparked concern throughout San Diego County. This contentious issue over appropriate compensation levels is expected to ignite discussions in communities grappling with substantial budget shortfalls across California.

According to a report by NBC San Diego, school districts in Carlsbad, Cajon Valley, Escondido, and Oceanside have either approved or planned for trustee stipend increases ranging from 300% to 400%. These adjustments come at a time when districts are confronting layoffs and even school closures, yet the proposed pay raises for trustees continue to move forward.

The legislation, known as AB 1390, was introduced by Assemblymember José Luis Solache, Jr. and signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom last year. The law’s intent was to address the stagnant pay for the demanding role of school trustee, but it has stirred controversy as the allowances could now reach up to $3,000 monthly, depending on the district’s size. Initially, Solache’s draft aimed to set monthly stipends as high as $7,500.

In districts like Cajon Valley, trustees have increased their monthly stipends from $600 to $2,000, even as the district faces staff layoffs. This move has been criticized as a misallocation of funds.

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should,” remarked Mark Reagles, a school bus mechanic with nearly 20 years of experience in the Cajon Valley Unified School District, reflecting the sentiment of many who question the timing and necessity of these pay hikes.

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should,” said Mark Reagles, a school bus mechanic who has worked nearly two decades in the Cajon Valley Unified School District.

Reagles, president of the district’s classified employees union, told The Post that school districts across San Diego County are facing deficits that are requiring layoffs and cuts. He noted that trustees may deserve a little more money, but not when his district is slashing jobs. 

Cajon Valley will lose $120K a year out of the general fund to pay for the trustees’ pay increases, Reagles said, which comes on top of health benefits for trustees and their families.

“I’m losing three people to layoffs,” Reagles said, “and that $120K almost would have paid their entire salaries.”

Officials for the San Diego County Office of Education declined to comment, as did officials for the San Diego Education Association and the California Teachers Association.

Scott Davison, an attorney and parent in Carlsbad who now leads the Carlsbad Education Alliance, told The Post that trustee pay bumps are a complex issue.

The topic can quickly become a fierce point of contention depending on the state of labor negotiations and whether teacher unions have control of the school board.

“We’ve seen the alignment of opposition come down whether the teacher union has a positive or negative relationship with the board,” Davison said.

Trustees in Carslbad’s district just signed off on their own huge raises, but they’re not facing the same wrath as elsewhere in San Diego County.

“The funny thing is, in our [Carlsbad] school district, we have a union majority — three of the trustees were funded and elected by the teachers union,” Davison said. “When the issue came up, we didn’t really see anybody oppose it, because they’re not in a year when they are negotiating contracts.”

Brandi Krepps, president of the Escondido Elementary Educators Association, told NBC San Diego that trsutees giving themselves a 400% raise in her district would make things “ugly.”

“Our site budgets have been slashed, stating that there’s budgetary constraints, yet we have money to give our school board members an additional stipend,” Krepps said. “It’s just, it’s really infuriating.”

Reagles warned that more school districts in California could see similar actions taken to boost trustee pay despite few dollars to go around.

“This time of year is layoff season across the state of California for thousands of school districts,” Reagles said. “This is not the time to do it.”