School Board Members Serving without Pay?

Will school board members continue to serve if no salary is attached?

I believe I have the answer that question since I resided in one of the 75% of states which do not pay school boards (nor fire rescue – all volunteers). On Long Island, NY there is a stipend for credits at a local community college for volunteers obviously to attract young able-bodied men and women.

Most school board elections are hotly contested for many reasons: parents wish to improve the quality of education, some people use it as a stepping stone for future plans to run for other elected office, some for their business' name recognition, ego gratification, and so on. Too numerous to list all. You get the idea.

In the same state local elected officials (like our BOCC) do not earn a salary, nor are any benefits attached. There had been in the past and, in my home state, if a business owner placed his and his family's health insurance on the business, s/he had to provide the same for employees. It had been a magnet for insurance, real estate, attorneys, other businessmen and women to run for local office. This is why the practice of providing benefits was disbanded some years back. There is a small stipend attached to local commissioners, primarily to cover expenses, but plenty still wish to and fight to serve.

Term limits are never a bad idea. The Founding Fathers never envisioned a “politician.” They envisioned and expected citizens would take a turn at governance.

Quite regularly there are letters to the editor asking about Martin County's lack of interest in quality of life issues, water mains, river quality, etc. Some liken the BOCC with 'fiddling while the county burns.' The board seems more interested in subsidizing money pits: water park, fancy golf course, empty busses traveling on U.S.1, concessions at beaches, etc.

A friend lives in downtown Orlando across the street from a beautiful park complete with a lovely lake where one may rent a pedal boat shaped as a swan, with a 4 story public library surrounded by numerous restaurants. A poverty group set up some food giveaway. The park now has vagrants sleeping on the benches, no one carrying a package is safe to walk the streets. And our BOCC is now talking up “Affordable Housing.”

If you build it, they will come.

This is an editorial and not the offical position of the Martin County Republican Executive Committee