It’s no secret that being a member of the Alexandria School Board is stressful work with little financial reward. Now, a number of School Board Members want that to change.
Outgoing Board Member Tammy Ignacio isn’t seeking reelection but wants future School Boards to get higher pay.
“We spend a lot of time fighting for our staff, fighting for our superintendent and our budget,” Ignacio said at a Board meeting earlier this month. “I really hope that we can take a moment to start looking at the amount of time and energy and commitment that’s put into the Board.”
The conversation followed City Council’s unanimous approval of an annual salary increase for itself last month, which upped the mayor’s salary from $41,500 to $72,000 and Council member’s salary from $37,500 to $68,000. Council will get their raise starting in January after getting sworn into office.
Ignacio is not running for reelection, but said before she departs at the end of this year that she’d like to put forward a motion to start the process to give the Board a raise.
“I know that it is very difficult to sit up here and ask for money for yourself when we are pulling strings to get money for staff and for kids,” she said. “I really think that at this point, it is extremely deserving.”
The chair of the Alexandria School Board currently earns $17,000 and Board Members earn $15,000, a far cry from salaries of board in neighboring jurisdictions. Both the Arlington and Fairfax County School Boards increased pay for members this year, with Arlington School Board Members now earning a six-figure salary, while Fairfax County School Board Members earn $48,000 annually and the Board Chair earns $50,000.
Virginia State law stipulates that School Boards can only give themselves raises a year before an election, meaning that Alexandria’s Board would have had to bring the issue up in the 2022 budget cycle. Now if the Board wants to revisit the issue it will have to be introduced in 2025 for Board Members who will enter office in 2027.
“We will figure steps for exploring this in the future,” School Board Chair Michelle Rief said.
Vice Chair Kelly Carmichael Booz said that the pay gap between Council and School Board Members is significant.
“If we could get something comparable, I think that would be worthwhile for the longterm,” Booz said. “I should be clear, we’re not talking about this current board or the next board. We can’t even do that because of legislation. We’re talking for the 2027 Board.”
School Board Member Abdel Elnoubi said that members should not be making less than a quarter than their City Council counterparts. Elnoubi recently won his Democratic primary bid for City Council and will be leaving the Board in January.
“There’s no way that this work is a quarter of the council’s work,” he said. “It’s a lot of work if you want to do it right.”
